A directional microstripantenna includes a driven patch surrounded by an isolated reflector and one or more coplanar directors, all separated from a ground plane on the order of 0.1 wavelength or less to provide end fire beam directivity without requiring power dividers or phase shifters. The antenna may be driven at a feed point a distance from the center of the driven patch in accordance with conventional microstripantenna design practices for H-plane coupled or horizontally polarized signals. The feed point for E-plane coupled or vertically polarized signals is at a greater distance from the center than the first distance. This feed point is also used for one of the feed signals for circularly polarized signals. The phase shift between signals applied to feed points for circularly polarized signals must be greater than the conventionally required 90 degrees and depends upon the antenna configuration.

A directional microstripantenna includes a driven patch surrounded by an isolated reflector and one or more coplanar directors, all separated from a ground plane on the order of 0.1 wavelength or less to provide end fire beam directivity without requiring power dividers or phase shifters. The antenna may be driven at a feed point a distance from the center of the driven patch in accordance with conventional microstripantenna design practices for H-plane coupled or horizontally polarized signals. The feed point for E-plane coupled or vertically polarized signals is at a greater distance from the center than the first distance. This feed point is also used for one of the feed signals for circularly polarized signals. The phase shift between signals applied to feed points for circularly polarized signals must be greater than the conventionally required 90 degrees and depends upon the antenna configuration.

Results are presented for isolated microstripantennas and infinite arrays of microstripantennas printed on chiral substrates, computed from full-wave spectral domain moment method solutions. Data for resonant length, impedance, directivity, efficiency, cross-polarization level, and scan performance are given, and compared to results obtained for a dielectric substrate of the same thickness and permittivity. It is concluded that, from the point of view of antenna characteristics, there does not seem to be any advantage to using chiral antenna substrates, while there are disadvantages in terms of increased cross-pol levels and losses due to surface wave excitation.

This research was concerned with using parasitic elements to improve the bandwidth, gain and axial ratio characteristics of microstripantennas and arrays. Significant improvements in these characteristics were obtained using stacked and coplanar parasitic elements. Details of the results are described in a total of 16 journal and 17 conference papers. These are listed in Section four of this report.

A research and development effort now underway is directed toward satisfying requirements for a new type of relatively inexpensive, lightweight, microwave antennaarray and associated circuitry packaged in a thin, flexible sheet that can readily be mounted on a curved or flat rigid or semi-rigid surface. A representative package of this type consists of microwave antenna circuitry embedded in and/or on a multilayer liquid- crystal polymer (LCP) substrate. The circuitry typically includes an array of printed metal microstrip patch antenna elements and their feedlines on one or more of the LCP layer(s). The circuitry can also include such components as electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches for connecting and disconnecting antenna elements and feedlines. In addition, the circuitry can include switchable phase shifters described below. LCPs were chosen over other flexible substrate materials because they have properties that are especially attractive for high-performance microwave applications. These properties include low permittivity, low loss tangent, low water-absorption coefficient, and low cost. By means of heat treatments, their coefficients of thermal expansion can be tailored to make them more amenable to integration into packages that include other materials. The nature of the flexibility of LCPs is such that large LCP sheets containing antennaarrays can be rolled up, then later easily unrolled and deployed. Figure 1 depicts a prototype three- LCP-layer package containing two four-element, dual-polarization microstrip-patch arrays: one for a frequency of 14 GHz, the other for a frequency of 35 GHz. The 35-GHz patches are embedded on top surface of the middle [15-mil (approx.0.13-mm)-thick] LCP layer; the 14- GHz patches are placed on the top surface of the upper [9-mil (approx. 0.23-mm)-thick] LCP layer. The particular choice of LCP layer thicknesses was made on the basis of extensive analysis of the effects of the

The paper demonstrates a four-element suspended patch antennaarray, with a parasitic patch layer and an electromagnetically coupled inverted microstrip feed, for linear polarization at K-Band frequencies. This antenna has the following advantages over conventional microstripantennas: First, the inverted microstrip has lower attenuation than conventional microstrip; hence, conductor loss associated with the antenna corporate feed is lower resulting in higher gain and efficiency. Second, conventional proximity coupled patch antennas require a substrate for the feed and a superstrate for the patch. However, the inverted microstrip fed patch antenna makes use of a single substrate, and hence, is lightweight and low cost. Third, electromagnetic coupling results in wider bandwidth. Details regarding the design and fabrication will be presented as well as measured results including return loss, radiation patterns and cross-polarization levels.

A feed network comprised of a combination of coplanar waveguide and slot transmission line is described for use in an array module of four microstrip elements. Examples of the module incorporating such networks are presented as well as experimentally obtained impedance and radiation characteristics.

A microstrip Yagi array was developed for the MSAT system as a low-cost mechanically steered medium-gain vehicle antenna. Because its parasitic reflector and director patches are not connected to any of the RF power distributing circuit, while still contributing to achieve the MSAT required directional beam, the antenna becomes a very efficient radiating system. With the complete monopulse beamforming circuit etched on a thin stripline board, the planar microstrip Yagi array is capable of achieving a very low profile. A theoretical model using the Method of Moments was developed to facilitate the ease of design and understanding of this antenna.

Microstrip patch antennas were first investigated from the idea that it would be highly advantageous to fabricate radiating elements (antennas) on the same dielectric substrate as RF circuitry and transmission lines. Other advantages were soon discovered to be its lightweight, low profile, conformability to shaped surfaces, and low manufacturing costs. Unfortunately, these same patches continually exhibit narrow bandwidths, wide beamwidths, and low antenna gain. This thesis will present the design and experimental results of a microstrip patch antenna receiving array operating in the Ku band. An antennaarray will be designed in an attempt to improve its performance over a single patch. Most Ku band information signals are either wide band television images or narrow band data and voice channels. An attempt to improve the gain of the array by introducing parasitic patches on top of the array will also be presented in this thesis.

JPL/NASA is currently developing microspacecraft systems for future deep space applications. One of the frequency bands being investigated for microspacecraft is the Ka-band (32 GHz), which can be used with smaller equipment and provides a larger bandwidth. This article describes the successful development of a circularly polarized microstriparray with 28 dBic of gain at 32 GHz. This antenna, which is thin, flat, and small, can be surface-mounted onto the microspacecraft and, hence, takes very little volume and mass of the spacecraft. The challenges in developing this antenna are minimizing the microstripantenna's insertion loss and maintaining a reasonable frequency bandwidth.

A novel antenna structure formed by combining the Yagi-Uda array concept and the microstrip radiator technique is discussed. This antenna, called the microstrip Yagi array, has been developed for the mobile satellite (MSAT) system as a low-profile, low-cost, and mechanically steered medium-gain land-vehicle antenna. With the antenna's active patches (driven elements) and parasitic patches (reflector and director elements) located on the same horizontal plane, the main beam of the array can be tilted, by the effect of mutual coupling, in the elevation direction providing optimal coverage for users in the continental United States. Because the parasitic patches are not connected to any of the lossy RF power distributing circuit the antenna is an efficient radiating system. With the complete monopulse beamforming and power distributing circuits etched on a single thin stripline board underneath the microstrip Yagi array, the overall L-band antenna system has achieved a very low profile for vehicle's rooftop mounting, as well as a low manufacturing cost. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of this antenna.

The radiation and losses in microstripantennas with a corporate feed network are studied. A surface current approach is applied in which the electrical currents in the feed lines are modeled as ideal transmission lines. The free-space radiation and the surface-wave excitation of typical segments in printed feed networks are studied. A four-element arrayantenna with its printed feed network is analyzed, and predicted radiation patterns, directivity, and gain are presented and compared with experimental results. The gain and directivity of large arrays of 16, 64, 256, and 1024 elements are calculated, and measurements in the frequency range of 10 to 35 GHz are reported.

The physical layout of the array elements and the proximity of the microstrip feed network makes the input impedance and radiation pattern values dependent upon the effects of mutual coupling, feedline discontinuities and feed point location. The extent of these dependences was assessed and a number of single patch and module structures were constructed and measured at an operating frequency of approximately 4.0 GHz. The empirical results were compared with the ones which were theoretically predicted by the cavity model of thin microstripantennas. Each element was modelled as an independent radiating patch and each microstrip feedline as an independent, quasi-TEM transmission line. The effects of the feedline discontinuities are approximated by lumped L-C circuit models.

An ultra-high-frequency microstrippatch antenna has been built for use in airborne synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). The antenna design satisfies requirements specific to the GeoSAR program, which is dedicated to the development of a terrain-mapping SAR system that can provide information on geology, seismicity, vegetation, and other terrain-related topics. One of the requirements is for ultra-wide-band performance: the antenna must be capable of operating with dual linear polarization in the frequency range of 350 plus or minus 80 MHz, with a peak gain of 10 dB at the middle frequency of 350 MHz and a gain of at least 8 dB at the upper and lower ends (270 and 430 MHz) of the band. Another requirement is compactness: the antenna must fit in the wingtip pod of a Gulfstream II airplane. The antenna includes a linear array of microstrip-patch radiating elements supported over square cavities. Each patch is square (except for small corner cuts) and has a small square hole at its center.

The design and analysis of a series-fed, low-loss, inverted microstriparrayantenna, operating at 1.413 GHz is presented. The arrayantenna is composed of two sub arrays. Each sub array consists of an equal number of microstrip patches all connected together through a series microstrip line. The first element of each sub array is coaxially fed but 180 degree out of phase. This approach ensures a symmetric radiation pattern. The design approach, is accomplished using the IE3D code that utilizes the method of moments. All experimental and simulated data are presented and discussed.

In February, an initial computer program to be used in analyzing the four-element array module was completed. This program performs the analysis of modules composed of four rectangular patches which are corporately fed by a microstrip line network terminated in four identical load impedances. Currently, a rigorous full-wave analysis of various types of microstrip line feed structures and patches is being performed. These tests include the microstrip line feed between layers of different electrical parameters. A method of moments was implemented for the case of a single dielectric layer and microstrip line fed rectangular patches in which the primary source is assumed to be a magnetic current ribbon across the line some distance from the patch. Measured values are compared with those computed by the program.

Students at the Naval Postgraduate School are designing a general purpose mini-satellite that can be launched from a Get-Away-Special cannister located in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle and will be compatible with expendable launch vehicles as well. This thesis defines preliminary antenna systems and the design parameters for the telemetry system of the ORION mini-satellite. These antenna design parameters may be used for investigations of various proposed antenna systems and the design parameters also allow for trade-off studies with the mission capabilities and subsystems of the satellite. An investigation is made into the feasibility of using conformal microstrip patch arrayantennas for the telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) systems. It is necessary to have two separate microstrip patch arrayantennas for the telemetry system: one uplink and one downlink antenna. The microstrip patch arrayantenna can operate as either an omnidirectional antenna or a directional antenna by changing the phase of the individual patch feeds. This feature gives the microstrip patch arrayantenna more flexibility for meeting the needs of potential users.

A microstripantenna design concept was developed that will provide quasi-omnidirectional radiation pattern characteristics about cylindrical and conical aerospace structures. L-band and S-band antennaarrays were designed, fabricated, and, in some cases, flight tested for rocket, satellite, and aircraft drone applications. Each type of array design is discussed along with a thermal cover design that was required for the sounding rocket applications.

The thesis comprises of 3 projects; an L-band microstripantenna with frequency agility and polarization diversity, X-band phased arrayantennas incorporating commercially packaged RFIC phased array chips, and studies for Ku/Ka-band shared aperture antennaarray. The first project features the use of commercially packaged RF-MEMS SPDT switches, that boasts of high reliability, high linearity, low losses, hermetically packaged and fully compatible for SMTA processes for mass-assembly and production. Using the switches in a novel manner for the feed network, microstripantennas with polarization diversity are presented. Frequency agility is achieved with the use of tuning diodes to provide capacitive loading to the antenna element. Additional inductance effects from surface-mounted capacitors, and its impact, is introduced. Theoretical cross-polarization of probe-fed antenna elements is presented for both linear and circular polarized microstripantennas. Designs and measurements are presented, for microstripantennas with polarization diversity, wide frequency tuning range, and both features. Replacement of the tuning diodes with commercially-packaged high Q RF MEMS tunable capacitors will allow for significant improvements to the radiation efficiency. In another project, multi-channel CMOS RFIC phased-array receiver chips are assembled in QFN packages and directly integrated on the same multi-layered PCB stack-up with the antennaarrays. Problems of isolation from the PCB-QFN interface, and potential performance degradation on antennaarray from the use of commercial-grade laminates for assembly requirements, namely potential scan blindness and radiation efficiency, are presented. Causes for apparent drift of dielectric constant for microstrip circuits, and high conductor losses observed in measurements, are introduced. Finally, studies are performed for the design of a Ku/Ka-Band shared aperture array. Different approaches for developing dual-band shared apertures

Actually the technological community has an interest in developing flexible circuits and antennas with particular characteristics e.g. robust, flexible, lightweight load-bearing, economical and efficient antennas for integrated millimeter wave systems. Microstripantennas are an excellent solution because those have all the characteristics before mentioned, but they have the problem of being rigid antennas and this makes impossible that those antennas can be use in portable devices. A practical solution is developing flexible microstripantennas that can be integrated to different devices. One axis of work is the analysis of the electromagnetic field to the microstripantennas using Bessel function and after generalize for application inflexible microstripantennas.

The radiation properties of a two-element array of circular patch microstripantenna in an ionized medium are studied. Expressions for the far zone EM-mode and P-mode radiation fields using hydrodynamic equations and potential function techniques are derived. The results are computed for the ionized media as well as for free space and compared with those of single-element circular patch microstripantenna. It is observed that EM-mode field patterns are modified to a great extent, whereas the P-mode field patterns show discrete raylike structure similar to those of other antennas. Antenna parameters like radiation conductivity, radiation efficiency, directivity and quality factor are also computed for different ratios of plasma to source frequency.

The primary goal was to design and characterize a four-element, 20 GHz, circularly polarized microstrip patch antenna fabricated from YBa2Cu3O(x) superconductor. The purpose is to support a high temperature superconductivity flight communications experiment between the space shuttle orbiter and the ACTS satellite. This study is intended to provide information into the design, construction, and feasibility of a circularly polarized superconducting 20 GHz downlink or cross-link antenna. We have demonstrated that significant gain improvements can be realized by using superconducting materials for large corporate fed arrayantennas. In addition, we have shown that when constructed from superconducting materials, the efficiency, and therefore the gain, of microstrip patches increases if the substrate is not so thick that the dominant loss mechanism for the patch is radiation into the surface waves of the conductor-backed substrate. We have considered two design configurations for a superconducting 20 GHz four-element circularly polarized microstripantennaarray. The first is the Huang array that uses properly oriented and phased linearly polarized microstrip patch elements to realize a circularly polarized pattern. The second is a gap-coupled array of circularly polarized elements. In this study we determined that although the Huang array operates well on low dielectric constant substrates, its performance becomes extremely sensitive to mismatches, interelement coupling, and design imperfections for substrates with high dielectric constants. For the gap-coupled microstriparray, we were able to fabricate and test circularly polarized elements and four-element arrays on LaAlO3 using sputtered copper films. These antennas were found to perform well, with relatively good circular polarization. In addition, we realized a four-element YBa2Cu3O(x) array of the same design and measured its pattern and gain relative to a room temperature copper array. The patterns were

A novel compact electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure consisting of two turns complementary spiral resonator (CSR) and conventional mushroom EBG (CM-EBG) structure is introduced to suppress the mutual coupling in antennaarrays for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) applications. Eigenmode calculation is used to investigate the proposed CSR-loaded mushroom-type EBG (MT-EBG), which proved to exhibit bandgap property and a miniaturization of 48.9% is realized compared with the CM-EBG. By inserting the proposed EBG structure between two E-plane coupled microstripantennas, a mutual coupling reduction of 8.13 dB has been achieved numerically and experimentally. Moreover, the EBG-loaded antenna has better far-field radiation patterns compared with the reference antenna. Thus, this novel EBG structure with advantages of compactness and high decoupling efficiency opens an avenue to new types of antennas with super performances.

A switchable microstripantenna is proposed which maintains nondirected radiation in the horizontal plane for all combinations of states of the switched elements. Theoretical and experimental results of studies of the directivity characteristics are presented.

A microstriparray using aperture-slot-coupling technique with very thin membranes has been developed at the L-band frequency for beam scanning application. This technology-demonstration array with 4 x 2 elements achieved a relatively wide bandwidth of 100 MHz (8%) and +/-45(deg) beam scan. Very narrow coupling slots were used with each having an aspect ratio of 160 (conventional slot aspect ratio is between 10 to 30) for coupling through very thin membrane (0.05mm thickness). This thin-membrane aperture-coupling technique allows the arrayantenna elements to be more easily integrated with transmit/receive amplifier (T/R) and phase shifter modules. This paper addresses only the radiator portion of the array. The array and active components will be presented in a separate pape.

An antennaarray system is disclosed which uses subarrays of slots and subarrays of dipoles on separate planes. The slots and dipoles respectively are interleaved, which is to say there is minimal overlap between them. Each subarray includes a microstrip transmission line and a plurality of elements extending perpendicular thereto. The dipoles form the transmission elements and the slots form the receive elements. The plane in which the slots are formed also forms a ground plane for the dipoles--hence the feed to the dipole is on the opposite side of this ground plane as the feed to the slots. HPAs are located adjacent the dipoles on one side of the substrate and LNAs are located adjacent the slots on the other side of the substrate. The dipoles and slots are tuned by setting different offsets between each element and the microstrip transmission line.

The antenna cross polarization suppression (CPS) is of significant importance for the accurate calculation of polarimetric weather radar moments. State-of-the-art reflector antennas fulfill these requirements, but phased arrayantennas are changing their CPS during the main beam shift, off-broadside direction. Since the cross polarization (x-pol) of the array pattern is affected by the x-pol element factor, the single antenna element should be designed for maximum CPS, not only at broadside, but also for the complete angular electronic scan (e-scan) range of the phased arrayantenna main beam positions. Different methods for reducing the x-pol radiation from microstrip patch antenna elements, available from literature sources, are discussed and summarized. The potential x-pol sources from probe fed microstrip patch antennas are investigated. Due to the lack of literature references, circular and square shaped X-Band radiators are compared in their x-pol performance and the microstrip patch antenna size variation was analyzed for improved x-pol pattern. Furthermore, the most promising technique for the reduction of x-pol radiation, namely "differential feeding with two RF signals 180° out of phase", is compared to single fed patch antennas and thoroughly investigated for phased array applications with simulation results from CST MICROWAVE STUDIO (CST MWS). A new explanation for the excellent port isolation of dual linear polarized and differential fed patch antennas is given graphically. The antenna radiation pattern from single fed and differential fed microstrip patch antennas are analyzed and the shapes of the x-pol patterns are discussed with the well-known cavity model. Moreover, two new visual based electromagnetic approaches for the explanation of the x-pol generation will be given: the field line approach and the surface current distribution approach provide new insight in understanding the generation of x-pol component in microstrip patch antenna radiation

We present the design and characterization of planar mm-wave patch antennaarrays with waveguide-to-microstrip transition using both near- and far-field methods. The arrays were designed for metrological assessment of error sources in antenna measurement. One antenna was designed for the automotive radar frequency range at 77 GHz, while another was designed for the frequency of 94 GHz, which is used, e.g., for imaging radar applications. In addition to the antennas, a simple transition from rectangular waveguide WR-10 to planar microstrip line on Rogers 3003™ substrate has been designed based on probe coupling. For determination of the far-field radiation pattern of the antennas, we compare results from two different measurement methods to simulations. Both a far-field antenna measurement system and a planar near-field scanner with near-to-far-field transformation were used to determine the antenna diagrams. The fabricated antennas achieve a good matching and a good agreement between measured and simulated antenna diagrams. The results also show that the far-field scanner achieves more accurate measurement results with regard to simulations than the near-field scanner. The far-field antenna scanning system is built for metrological assessment and antenna calibration. The antennas are the first which were designed to be tested with the measurement system.

The effect of mode type on the directive properties of a circular microstripantenna are investigated by means of numerical modeling in which a cavity model of the antenna is used. The structure and the cavity model principles are described. Numerical investigations of the directive properties of a single microstripantenna element and the microstripantennaarray for dominant and higher modes of the antenna excitation are presented. Radiation pattern shapes of the circular microstripantenna and the antennaarray indicate that the antenna tends to receive the undesirable signals.

The problem of microstripantennas covered by a dielectric substrate is formulated in terms of coupled integro-differential equations with the current distribution on the conducting patch as an unknown quantity. The Galerkin method is used to solve for the unknown patch current. Using the present formulation, the radiation pattern, the resonant frequency, and the bandwidth of a rectangular microstripantenna are computed. Design data for a rectangular microstripantenna are also presented.

08-2015 Publication Improved Gain Microstrip Patch Antenna David A. Tonn Naval Under Warfare Center Division, Newport 1176 Howell St., Code 00L...Distribution A An antenna for mounting on a ground plane includes a dielectric substrate for mounting on the ground plane. A conductive patch...GAIN MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST [0001] The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the

A microstrip patch antenna fed by a coaxial probe and reactively loaded by a open circuited microstrip line has been used previously to produce circular polarization[ l] and also as a building block for a series fed microstrip patch array [2]. Rectangular and circular patch antennas loaded with a microstrip stub were previously analyzed using the generalized Thevenin theorem [2,3]. In the Thevenin theorem approach, the mutual coupling between the patch current and the surface current on the stub was not taken into account. Also, the Thevenin theorem approach neglects continuity of current at the patch-stub junction. The approach in this present paper includes the coupling between the patch and stub currents as well as continuity at the patch-stub junction.

Recent advancement in the fabrication and packaging technology has led to the micrometer and nanometer-scale device modeling. This technological development and subsequent reduction in the dimension of devices like modulators, detectors and antennas has brought a thought of increasing the operating frequency of the system to the extent of sub-millimeter wavelength. In the view of the technical breakthrough in the area of fabrication and packaging, we have explored a printed antennaarray on the photonic crystal in the terahertz spectrum in this paper. An equivalent circuit model of the antenna has been proposed and a methodology to investigate various electrical parameters is discussed. Tunable parameters of the structure have been explored to optimize the electrical performance of the proposed antenna. The analysis is also compared by using two simulators: (a) CST Microwave Studio based on finite integral technique and (b) Ansoft HFSS based on finite element method. The effect of the photonic crystal as substrate to enhance the gain of this kind of the antenna has also been demonstrated. The gain, directivity, front-to-back ratio (F/B ratio), and the radiation efficiency of the proposed antenna at 600 GHz is 16.88 dBi, 17.19 dBi, 14.77 dB and 89.72%, respectively. Finally, the performance of the antenna has been compared with the reported literature.

A proposed microstrip Yagi antenna would operate at a frequency of 8.4 GHz (which is in the X band) and would feature a mechanically simpler, more elegant design, relative to a prior L-band microstrip Yagi antenna. In general, the purpose of designing a microstrip Yagi antenna is to combine features of a Yagi antenna with those of a microstrip patch to obtain an antenna that can be manufactured at low cost, has a low profile, and radiates a directive beam that, as plotted on an elevation plane perpendicular to the antenna plane, appears tilted away from the broadside. Such antennas are suitable for flush mounting on surfaces of diverse objects, including spacecraft, aircraft, land vehicles, and computers. Stated somewhat more precisely, what has been proposed is a microstripantenna comprising an array of three Yagi elements. Each element would include four microstrip-patch Yagi subelements: one reflector patch, one driven patch, and two director patches. To obtain circular polarization, each driven patch would be fed by use of a dual offset aperture-coupled feed featuring bow-tie-shaped apertures. The selection of the dual offset bow-tie aperture geometry is supported by results found in published literature that show that this geometry would enable matching of the impedances of the driven patches to the 50-Omega impedance of the microstrip feedline while maintaining a desirably large front-to-back lobe ratio.

A microstrip reflectarray is a flat reflector antenna that can be mounted conformally onto a spacecraft's outside structure without consuming a significant amount of spacecraft volume and mass. For large apertures (2 m or larger), the antenna's reflecting surface, being flat, can be more easily and reliably deployed than a curved parabolic reflector. This article presents the study results on a microstrip reflect-array with circular polarization. Its efficiency and bandwidth characteristics are analyzed. Numerous advantages of this antenna system are discussed. Three new concepts using this microstrip reflectarray are also proposed.

In this paper, an ultra-compact single negative (SNG) electric waveguided metamaterial (WG-MTM) is first investigated and used to reduce the mutual coupling in E & H planes of a dual-band microstripantennaarray. The proposed SNG electric WG-MTM unit cell is designed by etching two different symmetrical spiral lines on the ground, and has two stopbands operating at 1.86 GHz and 2.40 GHz. The circuit size is very compact, which is only {λ }0/33.6× {λ }0/15.1 (where λ 0 is the wavelength at 1.86 GHz in free space). Taking advantage of the dual-stopband property of the proposed SNG electric WG-MTM, a dual-band microstripantennaarray operating at 1.86 GHz and 2.40 GHz with very low mutual coupling is designed by embedding a cross shaped array of the proposed SNG electric WG-MTM. The measured and simulated results of the designed dual-band antennaarray are in good agreement with each other, indicating that the mutual coupling of the fabricated dual-band antennaarray realizes 9.8/11.1 dB reductions in the H plane, 8.5/7.9 dB reductions in the E plane at 1.86 GHz and 2.40 GHz, respectively. Besides, the distance of the antenna elements in the array is only 0.35λ 0 (where λ 0 is the wavelength at 1.86 GHz in free space). The proposed strategy is used for the first time to reduce the mutual coupling in E & H planes of the dual-band microstripantennaarray by using ultra-compact SNG electric WG-MTM. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61372034).

The tunable patch antenna configurations are becoming popular and attractive in many aspects. This was mainly due to the advent of ferrite thin film technology and tunable substrate materials. The integration of monolithic microwave circuits and antennas are becoming easy today. In the development of magnetic tuning of microstrip patch on ferrite substrate is presented by Rainville and Harackewiez. Radiation characteristics of such antennas are presented by Pozer. Band width and radiation characteristics of such tunable antennas are measured and compared. Usually the substrate losses are considered in the analysis and metallization losses are assumed to be ideal. The analysis of magnetic tunable radiator including metallization and ferrite substrate losses are presented. However, all such tuning and integration of circuits and antennas are mainly on ferrite substrate due to magnetic tuning. Recently, Varadan et al. established that the BaxSr1-xTiO3 series ferroelectric materials such as Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) are well suited for microwave phase shifter applications. It could be possible to change the dielectric constant of these materials more than 50% depending on the BST composition, by changing the applied bias voltage. Also, the porosity of BST can be controlled during processing to produce dielectric constants in the range of 15 to 1500, with some trade off in tunability. In this paper, we are presenting the possibility of designing a microstrip patch antenna on such tunable substrate. Such antennas are having the major advantage of electronic tunability and compact size.

Vehicular communications have been subject to a great development in recent years, with multiple applications, such as electronic payments, improving the convenience and comfort of drivers. Its communication network is supported by dedicated short range communications (DSRC), a system composed of onboard units (OBU) and roadside units (RSU). A recently conceived different set-up for the tolling infrastructures consists of placing them in highway access roads, allowing a number of benefits over common gateway infrastructures, divided into several lanes and using complex systems. This paper presents an antennaarray whose characteristics are according to the DSRC standards. Additionally, the array holds an innovative radiation pattern adjusted to the new approach requirements, with an almost uniform wide beamwidth along the road width, negligible side lobes, and operating in a significant bandwidth. PMID:27973424

This paper describes the new design of four element antennaarray using corporate feed technique. The proposed antennaarray is developed on the Rogers 5880 dielectric material. The antennaarray works on 5.8 GHz ISM band. The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands are radio bands (portions of the radio spectrum) reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency (RF) energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than communications. The arrayantennas have VSWR < 1.6 from 5.725 - 5.875 GHz. The simulated return loss characteristic of the antennaarray is - 39.3 dB at 5.8 GHz. The gain of the antennaarray is 12.3 dB achieved. The directivity of the broadside radiation pattern is 12.7 dBi at the 5.8 GHz operating frequency. The antennaarray is simulated using High frequency structure simulation software.

A microstripantenna for radiating circularly polarized electromagnetic waves comprising a cluster array of at least four microstrip radiator elements, each of which is provided with dual orthogonal coplanar feeds in phase quadrature relation achieved by connection to an asymmetric T-junction power divider impedance notched at resonance. The dual fed circularly polarized reference element is positioned with its axis at a 45 deg angle with respect to the unit cell axis. The other three dual fed elements in the unit cell are positioned and fed with a coplanar feed structure with sequential rotation and phasing to enhance the axial ratio and impedance matching performance over a wide bandwidth. The centers of the radiator elements are disposed at the corners of a square with each side of a length d in the range of 0.7 to 0.9 times the free space wavelength of the antenna radiation and the radiator elements reside in a square unit cell area of sides equal to 2d and thereby permit the array to be used as a phased arrayantenna for electronic scanning and is realizable in a high temperature superconducting thin film material for high efficiency.

The goal of this research was to investigate the feasibility of using a spiral microstripantenna that incorporates a thin ferroelectric layer to achieve both radiation and phase shifting. This material is placed between the conductive spiral antenna structure and the grounded substrate. Application of a DC bias between the two arms of the spiral antenna will change the effective permittivity of the radiating structure and the degree of coupling between contiguous spiral arms, therefore changing the phase of the RF signal transmitted or received by the antenna. This could eliminate the need for a separate phase shifter apart from the antenna structure. The potential benefits of such an antenna element compared to traditional phased array elements include: continuous, broadband phase shifting at the antenna, lower overall system losses, lighter, more efficient, and more compact phased arrays, and simpler control algorithms. Professor Jennifer Bernhard, graduate student Gregory Huff, and undergraduate student Brian Huang participated in this effort from March 1, 2000 to February 28, 2001. No inventions resulted from the research undertaken in this cooperative agreement.

Microstrip reflect arrays offer a flat profile and light weight, combined with many of the electrical characteristics of reflector antennas. Previous work [1]-[7] has demonstrated a variety of microstrip reflect arrays, using different elements at a range of frequencies. In this paper we describe the use of crossed dipoles as reflecting elements in a microstrip reflectarray. Theory of the solution will be described, with experimental results for a 6" square reflectarray operating at 28 GHz. The performance of crossed dipoles will be directly compared with microstrip patches, in terms of bandwidth and loss. We also comment on the principle of operation of reflectarray elements, including crossed dipoles, patches of variable length, and patch elements with tuning stubs. This research was prompted by the proposed concept of overlaying a flat printed reflectarray on the surface of a spacecraft solar panel. Combining solar panel and antenna apertures in this way would lead to a reduction in weight and simpler deployment, with some loss of flexibility in independently pointing the solar panel and the antenna. Using crossed dipoles as reflectarray elements will minimize the aperture blockage of the solar cells, in contrast to the use of elements such as microstrip patches.

This publication presents an antenna system that has been proposed as one of the candidates for the SCANSCAT (Scanned Scatterometer) radar application. It is the mechanically steered planar microstrip reflectarray. Due to its thin, lightweight structure, the antenna's mechanical rotation will impose minimum angular momentum for the spacecraft. Since no power-dividing circuitry is needed for its many radiating microstrip patches, this electrically large arrayantenna demonstrates excellent power efficiency. In addition, this fairly new antenna concept can provide many significant advantages over a conventional parabolic reflector. The basic formulation for the radiation fields of the microstrip reflectarray is presented. This formulation is based on the array theory augmented by the Uniform Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (UTD). A computer code for analyzing the microstrip reflectarray's performances, such as far-field patterns, efficiency, etc., is also listed in this report. It is proposed here that a breadboard unit of this microstrip reflectarray should be constructed and tested in the future to validate the calculated performance. The antenna concept presented here can also be applied in many other types of radars where a large arrayantenna is needed.

An antenna subsystem to communicate between Ariane 4 and a data relay satellite was studied, concluding that the original ideas on ring antennas should be corrected due to the wide margin of coverage required in elevation for such antennas, which implies the need of splitting the coverage. Nevertheless, the study of cylindrical and conical conformal arrays was continued in view of their intrinsic interest. Needed coverages with specified gain can be obtained with a set of microstrip circular patch antennas. For the lower stage, a single patch is enough. For geostationary missions, one horizontal array is used, and for heliosynchronous missions two horizontal arrays and a vertical one. The numerical study carried out on omniazimuthal ring antennas shows that a tendency to omnidirectional pattern exists in spite of the directivity of the elementary radiators. A small pointing improvement of the meridian pattern can be obtained by means of conical arrays instead of the cylindrical ones.

A coplanar waveguide (CPW) loop is shown to be an effective low VSWR feed for microstripantennas. The low VSWR transition between the CPW and the antenna is obtained without the use of a matching circuit, and it is relatively insensitive to the position of the antenna and the feed.

The substrate materials play a major role in the design, production and, most importantly, the performance of the Microstripantennas. The main goal of this thesis lies in performing a comprehensive and exhaustive study as well as an analysis of how magnetic substrates affect the performance indices of the Microstripantennas. This project takes into consideration the fact that study of magnetic materials as substrates is a relatively uncharted territory and that a few studies into this field have shown many potential facts. This project narrows the antenna under study to a rectangular Microstripantenna, due to both the simplicity and the versatility of this structure and the scalability of the study. The project was performed using simulation of Microstripantenna in CST Microwave Studio with magnetic substrates, over a range of mur, and recording the performance indices of the antenna. The performance indices that were considered for the study were Directivity, Efficiency, Gain, Bandwidth, Resonant frequency and VSWR. The method followed in this study can be easily scaled further to accommodate more performance indices, if needed. The observations were later used to draw practical inferences. Also as an extension, wide band 2x2 Microstripantenna is designed with an additional degree of freedom where changing the feed distance can cover different bands in GSM frequency.

Two types of C-band aircraft interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) are being developed at JPL to measure the ocean wave characteristics. Each type requires two identical antennas with each having a long rectangular aperture to radiate fan-shaped beam(s). One type of these radars requires each of its antennas to radiate a broadside beam that will measure the target's cross-track velocity. The other type, having each of its antennas to radiate two off-broadside pointed beams, will allow the measurement of both the cross-track and the along-track velocities of the target. Because flush mounting of the antenna on the aircraft fuselage is desirable, microstrip patch array is selected for these interferometric SAR antennas. To meet the radar system requirement, each array needs a total of 76 microstrip patches which are arranged in a 38 x 2 rectangular aperture with a physical size of 1.6m x 16.5cm. To minimize the insertion loss and physical real estate of this relatively long array, a combined series/parallel feed technique is used. Techniques to suppress cross-pol radiation and to effectively utilize the RF power are also implemented. Cross-pol level of lower than -30 dB from the co-pol peak and low insertion loss of 0.36 dB have been achieved for both types of arrays. For the type of radar that requires two off-braodside pointed beams, a simple phasing technique is used to achieve this dual-beam capability with adequate antenna gain (20 dBi) and sidelobe level (-14 dB). Both radar arrays have been flight tested on aircraft with excellent antenna performance demonstrated.

The bandwidth and radiation characteristics of a simple quarter wave microstripantenna on a typical ferrite substrate are measured and compared with the theoretical results in the lower range of ultrahigh frequency (UHF). A method has also been discussed for impedance matching of the antenna to the feed line.

In this work, a high gain patch antenna using multilayer FSS radome is proposed for millimeter-wave applications. The antenna operating frequency is 43.5 GHz. The antenna/radome system consists of one, two, three, or four layers of metasurfaces placed in the near-field region of a microstrip patch antenna. The antenna/radome system gain is improved by 9 dBi compared to the patch antenna alone, and the radiation pattern half-power beamwidth is reduces to 20° in both E- and H-planes.

Low cost is one of the main requirements in a communication system suitable for mass production, as it is the case for satellite land mobile communications. Microstrip technology fulfills this requirement which must be supported by a low cost tracking system design. The tradeoff led us to a prototype antenna composed of microstrip patches based on electromechanical closed-loop principle; the design and the results obtained are described.

In this paper, a novel design that improves the performance of conventional rectangular microstripantenna is discussed. Design adopts basic techniques such as probe feeding technique with rectangular inverted patch structure as superstrate, air filled dielectric medium as substrate and slot embedded patch. Prototype of the proposed antenna has been fabricated and various antenna performance parameters such as impedance bandwidth, return loss, radiation pattern and antenna gain are considered for Electromagnetic-study. The antennas are designed for the wireless application operating in the frequency range of 3.3 GHz to 3.6 GHz, and UK based fixed satellite service application (3 GHz to 4 GHz), and are named as single inverted patch conventional rectangular microstripantenna (SIP-CRMSA) and slots embedded inverted patch rectangular microstripantenna (SEIP-RMSA), respectively. Measurement outcomes for SEIP-RMSA1 and SEIP-RMSA2 showed the satisfactory performance with an achievable impedance bandwidth of 260 MHz (7 %) and 250 MHz (6.72 %), with return loss (RL) of -11.06 dB and -17.98 dB, achieved gain of 8.17 dB and 5.17 dB with 10% and 8% size reduction in comparison with the conventional patch antenna.

Design and measured results for two X-band conformal microstriparrays are presented. The two 4 x 4 arrays are built on the surface of a cylinder of small radius. They differ by the orientation of small radius. They differ by the orientation of the elements relative to the cylinder axis. The measured directivities and radiation patterns are in reasonable agreement with theoretical predictions.

A new design and experimental results of a microstrip-fed ultra-wideband Fermi antenna at millimeter-wave frequencies are presented. By utilizing a new microstrip-to-CPS balun (or transition), which provides wider bandwidth than conventional planar balun, the design of microstrip-fed Fermi antenna is greatly simplified. The proposed Fermi antenna demonstrates ultra-wideband performance for the frequency range of 23 to over 58GHz with the antenna gain of 12 to 14dBi and low sidelobe levels. This design yields highly effective solutions to various millimeter-wave phased-arrays and imaging systems.

The shape of the radiating patch in the microstrip patch antenna is one of the many factors that affect the performance of the microstripantenna.In this paper, on the premise of center frequency of 2.45 GHz, rectangular, circular and triangular microstrip patch antennas are designed and simulated respectively.The simulation results of the three microstrip patch antenna are analyzed, such as feed point position, return loss and radiation patterns.The influence of the shape of the radiation patch on the impedance bandwidth, gain and directivity of microstripantennas is discussed.The simulation results show that the comprehensive performance of rectangular microstrip patch antenna is better than the other two, the comprehensive performance of triangular microstrip patch antenna is poor.

A moment method solution to the input impedance of a circular microstripantenna excited by either a microstrip feed or a coaxial probe is presented. Using the exact dyadic Green's function and the Fourier transform the problem is formulated in terms of Richmond's reaction integral equation from which the unknown patch current can be solved for. The patch current is expanded in terms of regular surface patch modes and an attachment mode (for probe excited case) which insures continuity of the current at probe/patch junction, proper polarization and p-dependance of patch current in the vicinity of the probe. The input impedance of a circular microstripantenna is computed and compared with earlier results. Effect of attachment mode on the input impedance is also discussed.

In this paper, a near-zero-index metamaterial is proposed by the composite I-shaped unit cell and the refraction index of this metamaterial is close to zero from 6.12GHz to 6.19 GHz. To study the characteristics and application of this near-zero-index metamaterial, especially the ability of focusing energy, a microstripantenna is designed. According to the formulations for designing microstrip patch antenna, the conventional microstripantenna, which resonance at 6.19GHz, is designed and optimized. This metamaterial is placed right above the conventional microstripantenna and this system is tested by the finite element method (FEM). Simulation results show that the maximum radiation gain in H-plane of the microstripantenna with this near-zero-index metamaterial is 9.24dB, while the maximum radiation gain in H-plane of the conventional microstripantenna is 2.63dB, improving about 6.61dB than conventional microstripantenna; the maximum radiation gain in E-plane of the microstripantenna with this near-zero-index metamaterial is 9.24dB, while the maximum radiation gain in E-plane of the conventional microstripantenna is 5.12dB, improving about 4.12dB than conventional microstripantenna. Simulation results also show that the directivity of the microstripantenna with this near-zero-index metamaterial is much higher, compared with the conventional microstripantenna. Radiation gain at other frequencies, from 6.12GHz to 6.19GHz, is also obtained, the value is much higher than the conventional microstripantenna at the corresponding frequency. The results indicate that near-zero-index metamaterials can improve the radiation gain and the directivity of the conventional microstripantenna.

A systematic analysis of mutual coupling compensation using microstrip techniques is presented. A method for behind-the-array coupling of a phased antennaarray is investigated as to its feasibility. The matching scheme is tried on a rectangular array of one half lambda 2 dipoles, but it is not limited to this array element or geometry. In the example cited the values of discrete components necessary were so small an L-C network is needed for realization. Such L-C tanks might limit an otherwise broadband array match, however, this is not significant for this dipole array. Other areas investigated were balun feeding and power limits of spiral antenna elements.

A frequency-scanning microstripantenna using microstrip radiating resonators is described. The resonators are cascade-coupled. The experimental results in the S-band are in good agreement with the theory, showing that it is possible to scan the main lobe at an angle of + or - 30 deg by variation of frequency of + or - 125 MHz, where 3-dB beam width is less than 30 deg. Directivity of 12.8 dB and gain of 8.5 dB were observed.

The design and analysis of a series-fed, low-loss, inverted microstriparrayantenna, operating at 1.413 GHz is presented. The antenna is composed of two subarrays. Each subarray consists of an equal number of microstrip patches all connected together with microstrip lines. In the first design microstriparray for linear polarization is presented which incorporated a series feeding technique. The next design, which is capable of dual linear polarization (V-polarization and H-polarization), utilizes a corporate feed network for the V-pol and series feed arrangement for the H-pol. The first element of each subarray for H-pol is coaxially fed with a 180 deg phase difference. This approach ensures a symmetric radiation pattern on broadside in H-pol. For the V-pol two feeds are in the same phase on the two subarrays ensuring a broadside beam in V-pol. The designs presented here are simulated using the IE3D code that utilizes the method of moments. Measured results are compared with simulated results and show good agreement.

An analytical expression for the directivity is derived for uniformly excited linear arrays of rectangular printed antennas. Each antenna is assumed to radiate as two identical slots with a spacing which depends on the dielectric substrate. The directivity is plotted against distance between printed elements for two dielectric substrates, PTFE and alumina.

A straightforward numerical analysis of large arrays of arbitrary contour (and possibly missing elements) requires large memory storage and long computation times. Several techniques are currently under development to reduce this cost. One such technique is the GIFFT (Green's function interpolation and FFT) method discussed here that belongs to the class of fast solvers for large structures. This method uses a modification of the standard AIM approach [1] that takes into account the reusability properties of matrices that arise from identical array elements. If the array consists of planar conducting bodies, the array elements are meshed using standard subdomain basis functions, such as the RWG basis. The Green's function is then projected onto a sparse regular grid of separable interpolating polynomials. This grid can then be used in a 2D or 3D FFT to accelerate the matrix-vector product used in an iterative solver [2]. The method has been proven to greatly reduce solve time by speeding up the matrix-vector product computation. The GIFFT approach also reduces fill time and memory requirements, since only the near element interactions need to be calculated exactly. The present work extends GIFFT to layered material Green's functions and multiregion interactions via slots in ground planes. In addition, a preconditioner is implemented to greatly reduce the number of iterations required for a solution. The general scheme of the GIFFT method is reported in [2]; this contribution is limited to presenting new results for arrayantennas made of slot-excited patches and cavity-backed patch antennas.

A circularly polarized (CP) two-port microstripantenna simultaneously operated at two CP states is investigated. The CP bandwidth of this antenna is increased by 0.35 percent to about 5 percent, almost 14 times wider than that of a single port patch. The antenna directivity due to the loss in the load is reduced by about 3 dB. Such a tradeoff should make the antenna much more useful for transmitting or receiving simultaneously two CP waves of opposite senses. The crosstalk between the two ports depends on the purity of the CP and is about -19 dB for axial ratios equal to 2 dB and -14 dB for axial ratio equal to 3 dB. A method for improving the isolation between the two antenna ports is discussed.

Departmnent of Transportati~on Transp~rtation Systems Center Kendall Square024 The design and development of an advanced L-Band microstrip phased array...development of the microstrip radiator, array configuration, diode phase shifter and the antenna control unit is described. The array design is considered in...Statement arrayantenna, aic~f antenna, Document is available to the public microstripantenna, diode phase’ through the National Technical shifter, sale

The paper deals with the analysis of arbitrarily shaped microstripantennas. A powerful and flexible technique is obtained by combining a mixed potential integral equation, successfully used for rectangular patches, with a method of moments, using a division of the patch into triangular cells and overlapping basis functions, defined over cell couples. The resulting computer algorithm is validated by comparing its predictions with the measurements obtained from an equilateral triangular patch.

The recent discovery of high temperature superconductors (HTS) has generated a substantial amount of interest in microstripantenna applications. However, the high permittivity of substrates compatible with HTS results in narrow bandwidths and high patch edge impedances of such antennas. To investigate the performance of superconducting microstripantennas, three antenna architectures at K and Ka-band frequencies are examined. Superconducting microstripantennas that are directly coupled, gap coupled, and electromagnetically coupled to a microstrip transmission line were designed and fabricated on lanthanum aluminate substrates using YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting thin films. For each architecture, a single patch antenna and a four element array were fabricated. Measurements from these antennas, including input impedance, bandwidth, patterns, efficiency, and gain are presented. The measured results show usable antennas can be constructed using any of the architectures. All architectures show excellent gain characteristics, with less than 2 dB of total loss in the four element arrays. Although the direct and gap coupled antennas are the simplest antennas to design and fabricate, they suffer from narrow bandwidths. The electromagnetically coupled antenna, on the other hand, allows the flexibility of using a low permittivity substrate for the patch radiator, while using HTS for the feed network, thus increasing the bandwidth while effectively utilizing the low loss properties of HTS. Each antenna investigated in this research is the first of its kind reported.

The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductors (HTS's) has generated a substantial amount of interest in microstripantenna applications. However, the high permittivity of substrates compatible with HTS causes difficulty in feeding such antennas because of the high patch edge impedance. In this paper, two methods for feeding HTS microstripantennas at K and Ka-band are examined. Superconducting microstripantennas that are directly coupled and gap-coupled to a microstrip transmission line have been designed and fabricated on lanthanum aluminate substrates using Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting thin films. Measurements from these antennas, including input impedance, bandwidth, efficiency, and patterns, are presented and compared with published models. The measured results demonstrate that usable antennas can be constructed using either of these architectures, although the antennas suffer from narrow bandwidths. In each case, the HTS antenna shows a substantial improvement over an identical antenna made with normal metals.

The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) has generated a substantial amount of interest in microstripantenna applications. However, the high permittivity of substrates compatible with HTS causes difficulty in feeding such antennas because of the high patch edge impedance. Two methods for feeding HTS microstripantennas at K- and Ka-band are examined. Superconducting microstripantennas that are directly coupled and gap-coupled to a microstrip transmission line have been designed and fabricated on lanthanum aluminate substrates using Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting thin films. Measurements from these antennas, including input impedance, bandwidth, efficiency, and patterns, are presented and compared with published models. The measured results demonstrate that usable antennas can be constructed using either of these architectures, although the antennas suffer from narrow bandwidths. In each case, the HTS antenna shows a substantial improvement over an identical antenna made with normal metals.

The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) has generated a substantial amount of interest in microstripantenna applications. However, the high permittivity of substrates compatible with HTS causes difficulty in feeding such antennas because of the high patch edge impedance. Two methods for feeding HTS microstripantennas at K- and Ka-band are examined. Superconducting microstripantennas that are directly coupled and gas-coupled to a microstrip transmission line have been designed and fabricated on lanthanum aluminate substrates using Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting thin films. Measurements from these antennas, including input impedance, bandwidth, efficiency, and patterns, are presented and compared with published models. The measured results demonstrate that usable antennas can be constructed using either of these architectures, although the antennas suffer from narrow bandwidths. In each case, the HTS antenna shows a substantial improvement over an identical antenna made with normal metals

Short Backfire Antennas (SBAs) are widely utilized for mobile satellite communications, tracking, telemetry, and wireless local area network (WLAN) applications due to their compact structure and excellent radiation characteristics [1-3]. Typically, these SBA s consist of an excitation element (i.e., a half-wavelength dipole), a reflective bottom plane, a planar sub-reflector located above the "exciter", and an outer circular rim. This configuration is capable of achieving gains on the order of 13-15 dBi, but with relatively narrow bandwidths (approx.3%-5%), making it incompatible with the requirements of the next generation enhanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System-Continuation (TDRSS-C) Multiple Access (MA) array [1]. Several attempts have been made to enhance the bandwidth performance of the common dipole-fed SBA by employing various other feeding mechanisms (e.g., waveguide, slot) with moderate success [4-5]. In this paper, a novel method of using a microstrip patch is employed for the first time to excite an SBA. The patch element is fed via two H-shaped slots electromagnetically coupled to a broadband hybrid coupler to maintain a wide bandwidth, as well as provide for dual circular polarization capabilities.

The design and operation of microstripantennaarrays based on commercial feed boards and electromagnetically coupled (EMC) dipoles are described and illustrated with extensive drawings, graphs, and diagrams. The analysis of the radiating element and feeder network is outlined, and a 4 x 1 H-plane array and a 4 x 4 array operating at 11.7-12.5 GHz in linear or circular polarization are characterized in detail. With uniform illumination the latter array had directivity 21.75-22.08 db, gain 20.85-21.27 dB, voltage/standing-wave ratio 1.35-1.55:1, and efficiency 79-85 percent.

A new series-fed circularly polarized antenna (SFCPA) in microstrip configuration, which consists of a traveling-wave-type crank-line antenna (CLA) and a resonant-type square-ring slot antenna (SRSA), is developed. Unlike the conventional crank-line (CL) antennaarray with an open end or a resistive load, the proposed SFCPA uses the SRSA at the termination of the CLA and thus exhibits not only a broad circularly polarized (CP) bandwidth but also a large antenna gain. The characteristics of the SFCPA, including the leaky-wave radiation and the circular polarization, are examined in terms of the dispersion diagram and the current distribution. The SFCPA with the two-cell CLA and the terminated SRSA is fabricated and measured to demonstrate the 10-dB return loss and 3-dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidths of 34.3% and 30.5%, respectively. The frequency-scanning radiation patterns with a 5-7 dBi antenna gain are also presented in the operating band.

In this paper, a compact size free-space setup is proposed for the measurement of complex permittivity of granular materials. The horn antennas in the conventional setup are replaced by microstrip patch antennas which is a step toward system miniaturization. The experimental results obtained are in good agreement with those obtained with horn antennas.

The scattering properties of arbitrarily shaped microstrip patch antennas are examined. The electric field integral equation for a current element on a grounded dielectric slab is developed for a rectangular geometry based on Galerkin's technique with subdomain rooftop basis functions. A shape function is introduced that allows a rectangular grid approximation to the arbitrarily shaped patch. The incident field on the patch is expressed as a function of incidence angle theta(i), phi(i). The resulting system of equations is then solved for the unknown current modes on the patch, and the electromagnetic scattering is calculated for a given angle. Comparisons are made with other calculated results as well as with measurements.

A conceptual design for a microstrip phased array with monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplitude and phase controls is described. The MMIC devices used are 20 GHz variable power amplifiers and variable phase shifters recently developed by NASA contractors for applications in future Ka band advanced satellite communication antenna systems. The proposed design concept is for a general NxN element array of rectangular lattice geometry. Subarray excitation is incorporated in the MMIC phased array design to reduce the complexity of the beam forming network and the number of MMIC components required. The proposed design concept takes into consideration the RF characteristics and actual phyical dimensions of the MMIC devices. Also, solutions to spatial constraints and interconnections associated with currently available packaging designs are discussed. Finally, the design of the microstrip radiating elements and their radiation characteristics are examined.

Fields of microstrip ring antennas are calculated using a theoretical formulation based on the Green's function in conjunction with the reflection coefficient matrix approach. The effect of surface wave excitation on the efficiency of space wave launching of an annular ring antenna is analyzed, focusing on the case when the antenna is operated at higher-order modes. It is shown that the ring antenna outperforms disk and rectangular patch antennas and exhibits optimized performance for the TM sub 12 mode, with a substrate dielectric constant of 6 with high gain, broad lobe width, and no side lobes. It is considered to be a good candidate for array synthesis even in MMIC.

This compact, lightweight, dual-frequency antenna feed developed for future soil moisture and sea surface salinity (SSS) missions can benefit future soil and ocean studies by lowering mass, volume, and cost of the antenna system. It also allows for airborne soil moisture and salinity remote sensors operating on small aircraft. While microstripantenna technology has been developed for radio communications, it has yet to be applied to combined radar and radiometer for Earth remote sensing. The antenna feed provides a key instrument element enabling high-resolution radiometric observations with large, deployable antennas. The design is based on the microstrip stacked-patch array (MSPA) used to feed a large, lightweight, deployable, rotating mesh antenna for spaceborne L-band (approximately equal to 1 GHz) passive and active sensing systems. The array consists of stacked patches to provide dual-frequency capability and suitable radiation patterns. The stacked-patch microstrip element was designed to cover the required L-band center frequencies at 1.26 GHz (lower patch) and 1.413 GHz (upper patch), with dual-linear polarization capabilities. The dimension of patches produces the required frequencies. To achieve excellent polarization isolation and control of antenna sidelobes for the MSPA, the orientation of each stacked-patch element within the array is optimized to reduce the cross-polarization. A specialized feed-distribution network was designed to achieve the required excitation amplitude and phase for each stacked-patch element.

A structure of a circularly polarized, thin conformal, antennaarray which may be mounted integrally with the skin of an aircraft employs microstrip elliptical elements and interconnecting feed lines spaced from a circuit ground plane by a thin dielectric layer. The feed lines are impedance matched to the elliptical antenna elements by selecting a proper feedpoint inside the periphery of the elliptical antenna elements. Diodes connected between the feed lines and the ground plane rectify the microwave power, and microstrip filters (low pass) connected in series with the feed lines provide dc current to a microstrip bus. Low impedance matching strips are included between the elliptical elements and the rectifying and filtering elements.

The use of the Loaded MicrostripAntenna Code is described. The geometry of this antenna is shown and its dimensions are described in terms of the program outputs. The READ statements for the inputs are detailed and typical values are given where applicable. The inputs of four example problems are displayed with the corresponding output of the code given in the appendices.

The paper presents a feasibility study on optically transparent patch antennas with microstrip line and probe feeds. The two antennas operate at 2.3 GHz and 19.5 GHz respectively. They are constructed from a thin sheet of clear polyester with an AgHT-8 optically transparent conductive coating. The experimental results show good radiation patterns and input impedance match. The antennas have potential applications in mobile wireless communications.

A new design for a broadband microstripantenna is proposed, the working band of which is broadened using a bandpass filter based on two hairpin resonators electromagnetically coupled with a half-wave radiating resonator with a rectangular strip conductor. It is shown that the operating frequency range of this antenna is significantly extended as compared with that of analogous antennas, while its directivity and polarization diagrams remain highly stable within this range, which makes this design promising for applications. Operability of the antenna is demonstrated using its operating prototype. The measured characteristics of the antenna prototype agree well with the calculated data.

A microstrip patch antenna sensor was studied for shear sensing with a targeted application of measuring plantar shear distribution on a diabetic foot. The antenna shear sensor consists of three components, namely an antenna patch, a soft foam substrate and a slotted ground plane. The resonant frequency of the antenna sensor is sensitive to the overlapping length between the slot in the ground plane and the antenna patch. A shear force applied along the direction of the slot deforms the foam substrate and causes a change in the overlapping length, which can be detected from the antenna frequency shift. The antenna shear sensor was designed based on simulated antenna frequency response and validated by experiments. Experimental results indicated that the antenna sensor exhibits high sensitivity to shear deformation and responds to the applied shear loads with excellent linearity and repeatability.

The design of a low cost demonstration EHF multifunction-phased arrayantenna is described. Both, the radiating elements and the phase-shifter circuits are realized on microstrip substrate material in order to allow photolithographic batch fabrication. Self-encapsulated beam-lead PIN-diodes are employed as the electronic switch elements to avoid expensive hermetic encapsulation of the semiconductors or complete circuits. A space-feed using a horn-radiator to illuminate the array from the front-side is found to be the simplest and most inexpensive feed. The phased arrayantenna thus operates as a reflect-array, the antenna elements employed in a dual role for the collection of energy from the feed-horn and for the re-radiation of the phase-shifted waves (in transmit-mode). The antenna is divided into modules containing the radiator/phase-shifter plate plus drive- and BITE-circuitry at the back. Both drive- and BITE-components use gate-array integrated circuits especially designed for the purpose. Several bus-systems are used to supply bias and logical data flows to the modules. The beam-steering unit utilizes several signal processors and high-speed discrete adder circuits to combine the pointing, frequency and beam-shape information from the radar system computer with the stored phase-shift codes for the array elements. Since space, weight and power consumption are prime considerations only the most advanced technology is used in the design of both the microwave and the digital/drive circuitry.

The design, fabrication and testing of a conformal K-band circular array is presented. The array consists of sixteen linearly tapered slot antennas (LTSA). It is fed by a 1:16 microstrip line power splitter via electromagnetic coupling. The array has an omni-directional pattern in the azimuth plane. In the elevation plane the beam is displaced above the horizon.

Microstrip patch antennas have been widely used in mobile and satellite communication systems due to their great advantages of low cost, low profile, lightweight and easy fabrication. However, the dimensions of a classical patch antenna are on the order of half a wavelength. This paper proposes a new approach to reduce the size of the antenna by embedding several patch resonators in an antenna substrate. Periodically installed resonators are expected to exhibit slow-wave effects. First of all, a microstrip delay line having a train of patch resonators in its substrate is demonstrated theoretically by the conventional FDTD method, and the slow-wave effect is discussed. Next, a 2-dimentional patch resonator array is applied to a microstrip patch antenna, and the effectiveness of the proposed structure is evaluated in the respect of antenna dimensions. Also, several experiments have been carried out to confirm the theoretical predictions. Using a prototype model fabricated on an LTCC substrate, the size reduction of more the 50% is attained.

The development of a compact, lightweight, dual frequency antenna feed for future soil moisture and sea surface salinity (SSS) missions is described. The design is based on the microstrip stacked-patch array (MSPA) to be used to feed a large lightweight deployable rotating mesh antenna for spaceborne L-band (approx. 1 GHz) passive and active sensing systems. The design features will also enable applications to airborne sensors operating on small aircrafts. This paper describes the design of stacked patch elements, 16-element array configuration and power-divider beam forming network The test results from the fabrication of stacked patches and power divider were also described.

Gauss' hypergeometric function and Euler's transformation are employed to analyze the radiation characteristics of a closed-ring microstripantenna. The method takes into account ohmic and dielectric losses, and it is used to determine relations between efficiency and bandwidth. It is found that at higher frequencies, narrower ring structures can have small Q-factors, high gain, and large bandwidth.

A full W-band Vivaldi antenna is proposed. The selected feeding technique implements a broadband slotline to microstrip transition which allows obtaining return loss higher than 10 dB in the full W-band. The proposed configuration is compatible with standard manufacturing techniques such as photo-lithography or laser milling.

In a recent technology assessment of alternative communication systems for the space exploration initiative (SEI), Ka-band (18 to 40 GHz) communication technology was identified to meet the mission requirements of telecommunication, navigation, and information management. Compared to the lower frequency bands, Ka-band antennas offer higher gain and broader bandwidths; thus, they are more suitable for high data rate communications. Over the years, NASA has played an important role in monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) phased array technology development, and currently, has an ongoing contract with Texas Instrument (TI) to develop a modular Ka-band MMIC microstrip subarray (NAS3-25718). The TI contract emphasizes MMIC integration technology development and stipulates using existing MMIC devices to minimize the array development cost. The objective of this paper is to present array component technologies and integration techniques used to construct the subarray modules.

States Patent No. 6,710,746, issued March 23, 2004, to Anderson et al., discloses an antenna having a reconfigurable length, and a method of...an antenna linear extension and retraction apparatus and method of use for a submersible device. The apparatus includes a body having a cavity... microwave communications while at cruising speed and depth. [0027] It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an antennaarray

Closed-form expressions are derived for the input impedance of half-wavelength rectangular microstripantennas fed by a coaxial line at the center of one of the radiating edges and open-circuited at one of the ends. The input impedance is almost unaffected by the location of the feed point when fed at different points on the radiating edges; hence the closed-form expressions are valid for any half-wavelength rectangular microstripantenna fed at any point on any one of the radiating edges. It is shown that this method can be employed by practically any antenna designer without any background in this area and that the computation time is negligibly small.

An improved design concept for a printed-circuit patch antenna and the transmission line that feeds the patch calls for (1) a microstrip transmission line on the front (radiative) side of a printed-circuit board based on a thin, high-permittivity dielectric substrate; (2) using the conductor covering the back side of the circuit board as a common ground plane for both the microstrip line and the antenna patch; (3) supporting the antenna patch in front of the circuit board on a much thicker, lower-permittivity dielectric spacer layer; and (4) connecting the microstrip transmission line to the patch by use of a thin wire or narrow ribbon that extends through the thickness of the spacer and is oriented perpendicularly to the circuit-board plane. The thickness of the substrate is typically chosen so that a microstrip transmission line of practical width has an impedance between 50 and 100 ohms. The advantages of this design concept are best understood in the context of the disadvantages of prior design concepts, as explained

The behavior of space, surface and leaky waves in microstripantennas and the effects on the efficiency of space wave launching are studied theoretically, along with the effects of the physical characteristics of the dielectric layer over the antenna ground plane. Since the waves are excited in an antenna substrate, the radiated fields are expressed in terms of the cavity model with magnetic sidewalls and dyadic Green's function in stratified media. The contributions of space and surface waves are quantified and efficiency and directivity values are determined as functions of the antenna dimensions. Truncations in the dielectric are shown to cause undulations in the antenna radiation patterns, arising from the interference of space wave fields with fields produced when the surface wave is incident in the truncation region. Truncating the dielectric as far as possible from the antenna elements and implementing lower dielectric values in the disk radius ratios and the dielectric relative to the permittivities could reduce the interference problem.

An analysis for studying the superstrate (cover) effects on the slot-coupled microstripantennas is presented. The approach is based on the reciprocity theorem and uses the grounded double- and single-layer dielectric slab Green's functions in a moment method solution for the unknown slot fields and patch currents. From these fields and currents, various characteristics of the antenna can be extracted, such as the radiation efficiency, directivity, input impedance, and resonant frequency. Numerical calculations showing superstrate effects on these antenna characteristics are presented. The input matches obtained from proper adjustment of the slot and patch dimensions are discussed.

Expressions for the self and mutual impedance between microstripantenna modes on a grounded dielectric slab are presented. The mutual impedance between the microstrip modes and a vertical current filament in the dielectric is also presented. These are the quantities required in a method of moments analysis of the microstripantenna. Entire domain expansion modes, suitable for representing the microstrip current over a broad frequency range, are used. Efficient methods for the evaluation of the mutual impedance elements are described.

Bolometers offer the best sensitivity in the far-infrared to millimeter-wave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. We are developing arrays of feedhorn-coupled bolometers for the ESA/NASA Planck Surveyor and Herschel Space Observatory. Advances in the format and sensitivity of bolometric focal plane array enables future astrophysics mission opportunities, such as CMB polarimetry and far-infrared/submillimeter spectral line surveys. Compared to bolometers with extended area radiation absorbers, antenna-coupled bolometers offer active volumes that are orders of magnitude smaller. Coupled to lithographed micro-strip filters and antennas, antenna-coupled bolometer arrays allow flexible focal plane architectures specialized for imaging, polarimetry, and spectroscopy. These architectures greatly reduce the mass of sub-Kelvin bolometer focal planes that drive the design of bolometric instrumentation.

A symmetric reflectarray, consisting of variable-size square patch elements with a commonly used mathematical model for the horn in the form of a cosine function, has been designed using the transmit mode technique for different f/D ratios with 10 dB edge taper. Subsequently, the antennas were analyzed for the radiation pattern and gain. The infinite array model was used to determine the reflection phase of each patch element in the design and analysis codes. By displacing the feed laterally, the scan characteristics were obtained, such as the beam deviation factor, gain loss, and pattern degradation. The properties of reflect arrays were compared to those of the conventional paraboloidal reflectors. The same procedure was used to study the scan properties of offset reflectarrays. There is no cross-polarized radiation in the principal planes for a symmetric system. Cross-polarized radiation exists in non-principal planes off broadside in symmetric systems, with greater levels for larger values of subtended angles. Such cross-polarized radiation level increases with subtended angle just as cross-polarization level increases with decreasing values of f/D ratios for symmetric paraboloids in non-principal planes. Pattern distortions and gain loss were found to be more severe in the case of a microstrip reflectarray compared to the conventional parabolic reflector. The scan performance of the reflect arrays was found to improve with f/D ratios as is true for paraboloids. In general, scanning by means of displaced feed is limited to a few beam - widths in reflectarrays. Feed displacement in the axial direction of a symmetric reflectarray was investigated and compared to that of paraboloids. The gain loss due to the defocused feed of a reflectarray was found to be nearly the same as that of a paraboloid of the same subtended angle for larger values of f/D, and for displacements away from the antenna. The gain loss of an axially defocused reflectarray was found to be

The design, development, and experimental demonstration of a small phased arrayantenna suitable for applications on communications satellites are discussed. Each of the vertical layers was optimized for performance, and MMICs on custom carriers were characterized prior to insertion. A vertical integration architecture is used which minimizes the size of the array with its associated beamforming network (BFN). The antenna features a four-element linear microstriparray that uses aperture coupling of the antenna elements to the BFN; a modified Wilkinson power divider BFN; and 32 Ghz, 4-bit MMIC phase shifters on customized alumina carriers. Performance data are presented for all components, and far-field antenna radiation patterns are given.

A new expansion scheme is introduced to solve the integral equations describing a microstripantenna with the method of moments. The scheme offers both flexibility and a low number of expansion functions and thus an acceptable calculation time. The basic idea consists of constructing secondary entire domain expansion functions as fixed combinations of primary expansion functions. This special concept allows the solution of several problems concerning rapid variations of the currents on the patches in an efficient way without having to deal with an unacceptable number of expansion functions to describe the mutual coupling between the patches. The efficiency of the combined scheme is illustrated by a comparison of measured and calculated results for a linear eight-element microstriparrayantenna.

Many millimeter and far-infrared imaging systems are limited in sensitivity and speed because they depend on a single scanned element. Because of recent advances in planar detectors such as Schottky diodes, superconducting tunnel junctions, and microbolometers, an attractive approach to this problem is a planar antennaarray with integrated detectors. A planar line antennaarray and optical system for imaging has been developed. The significant advances are a 'reverse-microscope' optical configuration and a modified bow-tie antenna design. In the 'reverse-microscope' configuration, a lens is attached to the bottom of the substrate containing the antennas. Imaging is done through the substrate. This configuration eliminates the troublesome effects of substrate surface waves. The substrate lens has only a single refracting surface, making possible a virtually aplanatic system, with little spherical aberration or coma. The array is characterized by an optical transfer function that is easily measured. An array with 19 dB crosstalk levels between adjacent antennas has been tested and it was found that the array captured 50 percent of the available power. This imaging system was diffraction limited.

We describe the development of an antenna-coupled bolometer array for use in a Cosmic Microwave Background polarization experiment. Prototype single pixels using double-slot dipole antennas and integrated microstrip band defining filters have been built and tested. Preliminary results of optical testing and simulations are presented. A bolometer array design based on this pixel will also be shown and future plans for application of the technology will be discussed.

This report addresses the task C(i) of the Proposal for MicrostripAntenna Modeling and Measurement at High Frequencies by the writer, July 1985. The task is: Assess the advantages and disadvantages of the three computational approaches outlined in the Proposal, including any difficulties to be resolved and an estimate of the time required to implement each approach. The three approaches are (1) Finite Difference, (2) Sommerfeld-GTD-MOM, and (3) Surface Intergral Equations - MOM. These are discussed in turn.

The recent discovery of high temperature superconductors (HTS) has generated a substantial amount of interest in microstripantenna applications. However, the high permittivity of substrates compatible with HTS results in narrow bandwidths and high patch edge impedances of such antennas. To investigate the performance of superconducting microstripantennas, three antenna architectures at K and Ka-band frequencies are examined. Superconducting microstripantennas that are directly coupled, gap coupled, and electromagnetically coupled to a microstrip transmission line were designed and fabricated on lanthanum aluminate substrates using YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting thin films. For each architecture, a single patch antenna and a four element array were fabricated. Measurements from these antennas, including input impedance, bandwidth, patterns, efficiency, and gain are presented. The measured results show usable antennas can be constructed using any of the architectures. All architectures show excellent gain characteristics, with less than 2 dB of total loss in the four element arrays. Although the direct and gap coupled antennas are the simplest antennas to design and fabricate, they suffer from narrow bandwidths. The electromagnetically coupled antenna, on the other hand, allows the flexibility of using a low permittivity substrate for the patch radiator, while using HTS for the feed network, thus increasing the bandwidth while effectively utilizing the low loss properties of HTS. Each antenna investigated in this research is the first of its kind reported.

Circular ring microstripantennas have several interesting properties that make it attractive in wireless applications. Although several analysis techniques such as cavity model, generalized transmission line model, Fourier-Hankel transform domain and the method of matched asymptotic expansion have been studied by researchers, there is no efficient design tool that has been incorporated with a suitable optimization algorithm. In this paper, the cavity model analysis along with the genetic optimization algorithm is presented for the design of circular ring microstripantennas. The method studied here is based on the well-known cavity model and the optimization of the dimensions and feed point location of the circular ring antenna is performed via the genetic optimization algorithm, to achieve an acceptable antenna operation around a desired resonance frequency. The antennas designed by this efficient design procedure were realized experimentally, and the results are compared. In addition, these results are also compared to the results obtained by the commercial electromagnetic simulation tool, the FEM based software, HFSS by ANSOFT.

Experimental as well as computational results are presented for 2.4 GHz microstripantennas which are miniaturized (total length, 6 mm) by both a new, stepped impedance patch shape and a relatively high substrate permittivity. The antennas investigated were fabricated from YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) thin films epitaxially grown on single-crystalline LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed excimer laser ablation or by high-pressure oxygen DC sputtering and, for comparison, from copper on the same substrate material. It is shown that the radiation efficiency of this antenna structure is only about 1 percent to 6 percent for copper at 77 K but is increased to values between 35 percent and 65 percent for HTS films. From experimental investigations of the power dependence of the antenna gain at 77 K, nonlinearities, especially a sharp drop at a current density of about 2 x 10 to the 6th A/sq cm, were observed.

A compact annular ring microstripantenna was proposed for a wireless sensor network (WSN) application in the 2.4 GHz band. In this paper the major considerations of the conformal antenna design were the compact size and the impact on antenna's performance of a steel installation base. By using a chip resistor of large resistance (120 Ω) the antenna size was reduced to 38% of that a conventional annular ring patch antenna. With the addition of the steel installation base the resonant frequency of the antenna increases about 4.2% and the bandwidth reduces from 17.5% to 11.7% by adjusting the load resistance simultaneously. Several key parameters were discussed and optimized, and the antenna was fabricated and its performance measured. The antenna is well matched at 2.4 GHz with 34.2 dB return loss and –2.5 dBi peak gain. Meanwhile, it exhibits excellent radiation patterns with very low cross-polarization levels. PMID:23012510

A compact annular ring microstripantenna was proposed for a wireless sensor network (WSN) application in the 2.4 GHz band. In this paper the major considerations of the conformal antenna design were the compact size and the impact on antenna's performance of a steel installation base. By using a chip resistor of large resistance (120 Ω) the antenna size was reduced to 38% of that a conventional annular ring patch antenna. With the addition of the steel installation base the resonant frequency of the antenna increases about 4.2% and the bandwidth reduces from 17.5% to 11.7% by adjusting the load resistance simultaneously. Several key parameters were discussed and optimized, and the antenna was fabricated and its performance measured. The antenna is well matched at 2.4 GHz with 34.2 dB return loss and -2.5 dBi peak gain. Meanwhile, it exhibits excellent radiation patterns with very low cross-polarization levels.

Microstrip-patch-style antennas that generate monopole radiation patterns similar to those of quarter-wave whip antennas can be designed to have dimensions smaller than those needed heretofore for this purpose, by taking advantage of a feed configuration different from the conventional one. The large sizes necessitated by the conventional feed configuration have, until now, made such antennas impractical for frequencies below about 800 MHz: for example, at 200 MHz, the conventional feed configuration necessitates a patch diameter of about 8 ft (.2.4 m) . too large, for example, for mounting on the roof of an automobile or on a small or medium-size aircraft. By making it possible to reduce diameters to between a tenth and a third of that necessitated by the conventional feed configuration, the modified configuration makes it possible to install such antennas in places where they could not previously be installed and thereby helps to realize the potential advantages (concealment and/or reduction of aerodynamic drag) of microstrip versus whip antennas. In both the conventional approach and the innovative approach, a microstrip-patch (or microstrip-patch-style) antenna for generating a monopole radiation pattern includes an electrically conductive patch or plate separated from an electrically conductive ground plane by a layer of electrically insulating material. In the conventional approach, the electrically insulating layer is typically a printed-circuit board about 1/16 in. (.1.6 mm) thick. Ordinarily, a coaxial cable from a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver is attached at the center on the ground-plane side, the shield of the cable being electrically connected to the ground plane. In the conventional approach, the coaxial cable is mated with a connector mounted on the ground plane. The center pin of this connector connects to the center of the coaxial cable and passes through a hole in the ground plane and a small hole in the insulating layer and then connects

The development of a compact, lightweight, dual-frequency antenna feed for future soil moisture and sea surface salinity (SSS) missions is described. The design is based on the microstrip stacked-patch array (MSPA) to be used to feed a large lightweight deployable rotating mesh antenna for spaceborne L-band (approx.1 GHz) passive and active sensing systems. The design features will also enable applications to airborne soil moisture and salinity remote sensing sensors operating on small aircrafts. This paper describes the design of stacked patch elements and 16-element array configuration. The results from the return loss, antenna pattern measurements and sky tests are also described.

The design and development of a small, optically controlled phased arrayantenna suitable for communication satellite applications are discussed. A vertical integration architecture is used which minimizes the size of the array with its associated beamforming network (BFN). The antenna features a four-element linear microstriparray that uses aperture coupling of the antenna elements to the BFN; a modified Wilkinson power divider BFN; and 32 GHz, four-bit monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) phase shifters in customized quartz packages with corresponding optoelectronic interface circuits (OEIC's) for control signal reception.

A novel design of an array of half-wave superconductive microstrip resonators is described. The resonator is intended to be useful for electron spin resonance studies of thin film samples at cryogenic temperatures. It achieves a high quality factor, has a small mode-volume, and creates a uniform magnetic field in a plane above the resonator. The device is made of thin film Niobium on sapphire wafer and is tested with a static magnetic field. Variation of Q-factor versus the magnetic field's strength at different temperatures is reported and is in a good agreement with simulation when the loss due to the vortices is included. Also, the power-dependence response of the resonator is shown in experiments and is verified by capturing the nonlinearity associated with the surface impedance of the superconducting film into the circuit model of the device.

Millimeter wave microstripantennas with left-handed materials substrates are studied with method of moments. Discrete complex image method is extended to the computation of Green's function in microstrip circuits with left-handed materials substrates. It is shown that this kind of antennas will achieve similar radiation patterns to the ones of conventional millimeter wave microstripantennas in some cases, and can obtain radiation patterns characteristic of narrow main lobes with low elevation angles in other cases. Potential applications for directive antennas with these unusual radiation patterns of this kind of antennas are proposed.

The high-frequency transceiver array based on the microstrip transmission line design is a promising technique for ultrahigh field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal excitation and reception. However, with the increase of radio-frequency (RF) channels, the size of the ground plane in each microstrip coil element is usually not sufficient to provide a perfect ground. Consequently, the transceiver array may suffer from cable resonance, lower Q-factors, and imaging quality degradations. In this paper, we present an approach to improving the performance of microstrip transceiver arrays by introducing RF shielding outside the microstriparray and the feeding coaxial cables. This improvement reduced interactions among cables, increased resonance stability, and Q-factors, and thus improved imaging quality. An experimental method was also introduced and utilized for quantitative measurement and evaluation of RF coil resonance stability or "cable resonance" behavior.

An adaptive multibeam antennaarray is considered which will enhance the advantages of a plain one. By providing simultaneous reception of signals from different directions and their sequential processing. The optimization of the array control for maximum interference suppression in the radiation pattern is emphasized. The optimum control is sought with respect to the signal-to-interference power ratio as a genaralized criterion. Sampled useful signals and transmission coefficients are found to be complex-conjugate quantities, assuming compatible formation of beams, so that synphasal equiamplitude addition of signals from all array element is attainable by unique settings of the weight factors. Calculations are simplified by letting the useful signal power in the 1-th beam be approximately equal to the k-th weight factor, before optimizing the weight vector for maximum signal-to-interference ratio. A narrowband interference described by power P and vector V of signal distribution over the array is considered as an example, to demonstrate the algorithm of synthesis. The algorithm, using the Butler matrix, was executed experimentally on a computer for a linear equidistant antennaarray of 32 elements with compatible formation of beams.

This paper presents computational models of microstripantennas using the software CST. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate an alternative way to miniaturize dimensions of microstripantennas. In order to this, a coating made of ceramic with high dielectric constant was considered for two different cases. Scattering parameters (S11) and radiation patterns were obtained for both structures and compared with standard microstripantennas for S and C bands. Finally, the results show the possibility of reducing the dimensions by 22% to 31% and demonstrate the feasibility for the implementation and development of these antennas.

A simple analysis of thin annular-ring microstripantennas (AR-MSA), along with a design technique that yields the optimum ring dimensions which maximizes the radiation efficiency and the bandwidth, is presented in this paper. Using the cavity model, exact closed form solutions for the radiation fields are derived. The antenna fields distribution, resonance dimensions, radiation patterns, directivity, radiation conductance, quality factor and bandwidth are investigated for the different TMnm modes. AR-MSAs operated at the high order TMn2 modes are found to have better radiation properties and broader bandwidths than the corresponding disk-MSAs. A design table for the optimum ring dimensions for different types of the dielectric substrate material is also given in the paper.

Antenna miniaturization plays an important role in the design of modern personal wireless systems. Several minimization techniques have been known for a long time. The mail minimization tools are loading the antenna with lumped elements, high permittivity dielectric materials or conducting additions; using a ground plane with short circuits and optimizing the geometry. In this paper, a compact stacked microstripantenna with loaded U-slot on the driven (lower) patch and probe feed structure is proposed. The purpose of this paper is to study the variations of a U-slot length with the parameters of stacked microstripantenna such as input impedance, bandwidth and resonant frequency etc. The paper emphasizes the significant change observed in the performance of compact stacked microstripantenna. Earlier work has utilized a U-slot on the planar microstripantenna and the effect of slot width on performance of microstripantenna is studied. The software package IE3D® version 11.5 was used to simulate the antenna structures. The simulation results show that, the size reduction is achieved by inserting U-slot in the radiating element. Further, it is observed from the simulation that maximum overall impedance bandwidth is achieved for width of U-slot LS = 22 mm, which is 277.78 MHz. This developed microstripantenna is small enough to be easily accommodated in wireless applications.

We describe the design and performance of polarization selective antenna-coupled TES arrays that will be used in several upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments: SPIDER, BICEP-2/SPUD. The fully lithographic polarimeter arrays utilize planar phased-antennas for collimation (F/4 beam) and microstrip filters for band definition (25% bandwidth). These devices demonstrate high optical efficiency, excellent beam shapes, and well-defined spectral bands. The dual-polarization antennas provide well-matched beams and low cross polarization response, both important for high-fidelity polarization measurements. These devices have so far been developed for the 100 GHz and 150 GHz bands, two premier millimeter-wave atmospheric windows for CMB observations. In the near future, the flexible microstrip-coupled architecture can provide photon noise-limited detection for the entire frequency range of the CMBPOL mission. This paper is a summary of the progress we have made since the 2006 SPIE meeting in Orlando, FL.

In this thesis, developments of rectangular microstrip patch antenna to have circular polarization agility with wideband performance, for wireless applications are presented. First, a new technique to achieve circularly polarized (CP) probe feed single-layer microstrip patch antenna with wideband characteristics is proposed. The antenna is a modified form of the popular E-shaped patch, used to broaden the impedance bandwidth of a basic rectangular patch antenna. This is established by letting the two parallel slots of the E-patch unequal. Thus, by introducing asymmetry two orthogonal currents on the patch are excited and circularly polarized fields are realized. The proposed technique exhibits the advantage of the simplicity inherent in the E-shaped patch design. It requires only slot lengths, widths, and position parameters to be determined. Also, it is suitable for later adding the reconfigurable capability. With the aid of full-wave simulator Ansoft HFSS, investigations on the effect of various dimensions of the antenna have been carried out via parametric analysis. Based on these investigations, a design procedure for a CP E-shaped patch is summarized. Various design examples with different substrate thicknesses and material types are presented and compared, with CP U-slot patch antennas, recently proposed in the literature. A prototype has been constructed following the suggested design procedure to cover the IEEE 802.11b/g WLAN band. The performance of the fabricated antenna was measured and compared with the simulation results for the reflection coefficient, axial ratio, radiation pattern, and antenna gain. Good agreement is achieved between simulation and measured results demonstrating a high gain and wideband performance. Second, a polarization reconfigurable single feed E-shaped patch antenna with wideband performance is proposed. The antenna is capable of switching from right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) to left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) and

Microstripantenna is a shaped thin board of antenna and capable for working at high frequencies. Microstripantenna has a pattern strip shape in a various form, one of which is a rectangular shape. Microstripantennas have some shortcomings which have narrow bandwidth and small gain, to cover the shortfall, the antenna is made using an array to increase the gain and u - slot to widen the bandwidth. In this paper will discuss the results of the antenna simulation using Ansoft HFSS software applications and their compliance with specifications designed antenna. In this issues we analysis the results of the design and simulation microstripantenna at a frequency of 2.6 - 2.7 GHz for LTE applications

The effects of 2-D electromagnetic crystal substrate on the performance of a rectangular microstrip patch antennas at THz frequencies is simulated. Electromagnetic crystal substrate is used to obtain extremely broad-bandwidth with multi-frequency band operation of the proposed microstripantennas. Multi-frequency band microstrip patch antennas are used in modern communication systems in order to enhance their capacity through frequency reuse. The simulated 10 dB impedance bandwidth of the rectangular patch microstripantenna is 34.3% at THz frequency (0.6-0.95 THz). The radiation efficiency, gain and directivity of the proposed antenna are presented at different THz frequencies. The simulation has been performed using CST Microwave Studio, which is a commercially available electromagnetic simulator based on finite integral technique.

The requirements of a microstriparray with a vertically polarized fan beam are addressed that correspond to its use in C-band interferometric SAR. A combination of parallel- and series-feed techniques are utilized in an array design with a three-stage parallel-fed configuration to enhance bandwidth performance. The linearly polarized traveling-wave microstriparrayantenna is fed by microstrip transmission lines in two rows of 36 elements that resonate at 5.30 GHz. The transmission lines are impedance-matched at every junction for all the waves that travel toward the two ends of the array. The two measured principal-plane patterns are shown, and the measured narrow-beam pattern is found to agree with the calculated values. The VSWR bandwidths and narrow and broad beamwidths of the antenna are found to permit efficient performance. The efficiency is attributed to the parallel and series-feed configuration which allows proper impedance matching, and low cross-polarization is a result of the antiphase feed technique employed in the configuration.

A new antennaarray is proposed in order to improve the sensitivity and complexity of microwave imaging diagnostics systems such as a microwave imaging reflectometry, a microwave imaging interferometer, and an electron cyclotron emission imaging. The antennaarray consists of five elements: a horn antenna, a waveguide-to-microstrip line transition, a mixer, a local oscillation (LO) module, and an intermediate frequency amplifier. By using an LO module, the LO optics can be removed, and the supplied LO power to each element can be equalized. We report details of the antennaarray and characteristics of a prototype antennaarray.

A new antennaarray is proposed in order to improve the sensitivity and complexity of microwave imaging diagnostics systems such as a microwave imaging reflectometry, a microwave imaging interferometer, and an electron cyclotron emission imaging. The antennaarray consists of five elements: a horn antenna, a waveguide-to-microstrip line transition, a mixer, a local oscillation (LO) module, and an intermediate frequency amplifier. By using an LO module, the LO optics can be removed, and the supplied LO power to each element can be equalized. We report details of the antennaarray and characteristics of a prototype antennaarray.

A new antennaarray is proposed in order to improve the sensitivity and complexity of microwave imaging diagnostics systems such as a microwave imaging reflectometry, a microwave imaging interferometer, and an electron cyclotron emission imaging. The antennaarray consists of five elements: a horn antenna, a waveguide-to-microstrip line transition, a mixer, a local oscillation (LO) module, and an intermediate frequency amplifier. By using an LO module, the LO optics can be removed, and the supplied LO power to each element can be equalized. We report details of the antennaarray and characteristics of a prototype antennaarray.

This paper reports a MEMS-based electrostatically tunable microstrip patch antenna fabricated using printed circuit processing techniques. The microstrip patch is patterned on the top side of the flexible kapton polyimide film, which is suspended above the fixed ground plane using a spacer. The air gap between the microstrip patch and the ground plane is decreased by applying a DC bias voltage between the patch and the ground plane. A decrease in air gap increases the effective permittivity of the antenna resulting in a downward shift in the resonant frequency. The microstrip patch is excited by a slot in the ground plane, which is inductively coupled by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed line. A 6 mm x 6 mm microstrip patch antenna tunable from 18.34 GHz at 0 V to 17.95 GHz at 268 V (with a tuning range of 390 MHz) is discussed.

The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method has been used to calculate electromagnetic radiation patterns from 915-MHz dual concentric conductor (DCC) microwave antennas that are constructed from thin and flexible printed circuit board (PCB) materials. Radiated field distributions are calculated in homogeneous lossy muscle tissue loads located under variable thickness coupling bolus layers. This effort extends the results of previous investigations to consider more realistic applicator configurations with smaller 2-cm-square apertures and different coupling bolus materials and thicknesses, as well as various spacings of multiple-element arrays. Results are given for practical applicator designs with microstrip feedlines etched on the backside of the PCB antennaarray instead of previously tested bulky coaxial-cable feedline connections to each radiating aperture. The results demonstrate that for an optimum coupling bolus thickness of 2.5-5 mm, the thin, flexible, and lightweight DCC antennas produce effective heating to the periphery of each aperture to a depth of approximately 1 cm, and may be combined into arrays for uniform heating of large area superficial tissue regions with the 50% power deposition contour conforming closely to the outer perimeter of the array.

An overview is presented of research carried out at TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory in the field of phased arrayantennas. Started is with a brief historical overview and a presentation of the antenna measurement facilities. Then full wave analysis methods for infinite planar waveguide arrays are discussed and ways to use these methods for analyzing finite arrays. A design approach for microstrip patch arrayantennas, employing reduced analysis methods and commercially available full wave software is discussed next, followed by a presentation of analysis techniques for faceted and curved arrayantennas, together with the first reduced analysis results.

In this thesis, a unique design of a self-adapting conformal phased-arrayantenna system for wireless communications is presented. The antenna system is comprised of one microstripantennaarray and a sensor circuit. A 1x4 printed microstrip patch antennaarray was designed on a flexible substrate with a resonant frequency of 2.47 GHz. However, the performance of the antenna starts to degrade as the curvature of the surface of the substrate changes. To recover the performance of the system, a flexible sensor circuitry was designed. This sensor circuitry uses analog phase shifters, a flexible resistor and operational-amplifier circuitry to compensate the phase of each array element of the antenna. The proposed analytical method for phase compensation has been first verified by designing an RF test platform consisting of a microstripantennaarray, commercially available analog phase shifters, analog voltage attenuators, 4-port power dividers and amplifiers. The platform can be operated through a LabVIEW GUI interface using a 12-bit digital-to-analog converter. This test board was used to design and calibrate the sensor circuitry by observing the behavior of the antennaarray system on surfaces with different curvatures. In particular, this phased arrayantenna system was designed to be used on the surface of a spacesuit or any other flexible prototype. This work was supported in part by the Defense Miroelectronics Activity (DMEA), NASA ND EPSCoR and DARPA/MTO.

A model for analysis of the radiation characteristics of cylindrical arrays of microstrip rectangular patches is presented. The model is based on the Green function for the multilayered structure calculated in the Fourier domain. The fields radiated by the array are calculated through an asymptotic expression obtained by the application of the stationary phase method. Radiation characteristics such as the directivity function, the ripple and the crosspolarization level are discussed for arrays excited in the TM(01) mode.

DATES COVERED 00-00-2014 to 00-00-2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Appartaus And Method For Improving The Gain And Bandwidth Of A Microstrip Patch...Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Attorney Docket No. 101925 1 of 11 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE GAIN AND BANDWIDTH OF A MICROSTRIP PATCH...improving both the gain and the bandwidth of a microstrip patch antenna. (2) Description of the Prior Art [0004] A patch antenna, also referred to as a

An integrated oscillator/antenna is presented that uses a single microstrip leaky-wave structure as both the resonant and the radiating element. This resonant antenna is connected to a GaAs metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor which acts as the negative resistance element in the oscillator circuit. This type of oscillator is similar in its operating principle to one reported using Gunn diodes and a periodically notched dielectric image guide. This circuit exhibits the high DC-RF conversion efficiency that is typical of field-effect transistor oscillators. The planar circuit is simple and inexpensive to construct, occupies a small volume, and can conform to different surface profiles. Such circuits are suitable for use in millimeter-wave systems as well as at microwave frequencies. A design procedure is given, and the performance of X-band prototype circuits is reported. Prototype circuits showed a 9 dB isotropic conversion gain and 40 MHz tuning range at 9.5 GHz.

A circularly polarized microstriparrayantenna utilizing a honeycomb substrate made of dielectric material to support on one side the microstrip patch elements in an array, and on the other side a stripline circuit for feeding the patch elements in subarray groups of four with angular orientation and phase for producing circularly polarized radiation, preferably at a 0.degree., 90.degree., 180.degree. and 270.degree. relationship. The probe used for coupling each feed point in the stripline circuit to a microstrip patch element is teardrop shaped in order to introduce capacitance between the coupling probe and the metal sheet of the stripline circuit that serves as an antenna ground plane. The capacitance thus introduced tunes out inductance of the probe. The shape of the teardrop probe is not critical. The probe capacitance required is controlled by the maximum diameter for the teardrop shaped probe, which can be empirically determined for the operating frequency. An aluminum baffle around each subarray blocks out surface waves between subarrays.

A circularly polarized microstriparrayantenna utilizing a honeycomb substrate made of dielectric material to support on one side the microstrip patch elements in an array, and on the other side a stripline circuit for feeding the patch elements in subarray groups of four with angular orientation and phase for producing circularly polarized radiation, preferably at a 0, 90, 180, and 270 degree relationship is described. The probe used for coupling each feed point in the stripline circuit to a microstrip patch element is teardrop shaped in order to introduce capacitance between the coupling probe and the metal sheet of the stripline circuit that serves as an antenna ground plane. The capacitance thus introduced tunes out inductance of the probe. The shape of the teardrop probe is not critical. The probe capacitance required is controlled by the maximum diameter for the teardrop shaped probe, which can be empirically determined for the operating frequency. An aluminum baffle around each subarray blocks out surface wave between subarrays.

Microstrip transmission-line loop arrays have been recently proposed for parallel imaging at ultrahigh fields due to their advantages in element decoupling and to their increased coil quality factor. In the microstrip loop array design, interconnecting capacitors become necessary to further improve the decoupling between the adjacent elements when nonoverlapped loops are placed densely. However, at ultrahigh fields, the capacitance required for sufficient decoupling is very small. Hence, the isolations between the elements are usually not optimized and the array is extremely sensitive to the load. In this study, a theoretical model is developed to analyze the capacitive decoupling circuit. Then, a novel tunable loop microstrip (TLM) array that can accommodate capacitive decoupling more easily at ultrahigh fields is proposed. As an example, a four-element TLM array is constructed at 7 T. In this array, the decoupling capacitance is increased to a more reasonable value. Isolation between the adjacent elements is better than -37 dB with the load. The performance of this TLM array is also demonstrated by MRI experiments.

In recent years, much interest has been shown in the use of printed circuit antennas in mobile satellite and communications terminals at microwave frequencies. Although such antennas have many advantages in weight and profile size over more conventional reflector/horn configurations, they do, however, suffer from an inherently narrow bandwidth. A way of optimizing the bandwidth of such antennas by an electronic tuning technique using a loaded probe mounted within the antenna structure is examined, and the resulting far-field radiation patterns are shown. Simulation results from a 2D finite difference time domain (FDTD) model for a rectangular microstripantenna loaded with shorting pins are given and compared to results obtained with an actual antenna. It is hoped that this work will result in a design package for the analysis of microstrip patch antenna elements.

This work was conducted to demonstrate the performance levels attainable with an ESSA (Electronic Switching Spherical Array) antenna by designing and testing an engineering model. The antenna was designed to satisfy general spacecraft environmental requirements and built to provide electronically commandable beam pointing capability throughout a hemisphere. Constant gain and beam shape throughout large volumetric coverage regions are the principle characteristics. The model is intended to be a prototype of a standard communications and data handling antenna for user scientific spacecraft with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). Some additional testing was conducted to determine the feasibility of an integrated TDRSS and GPS (Global Positioning System) antenna system.

The subject of this paper is the analysis of the mode type influence on the directive properties of a microstripantenna with a rectangular radiating element. Investigations in this field were carried out using the aperture model of the antenna. The results of numerical investigations are presented.

In accordance with study requirements, two antennas are described: a 30 meter standard antenna and a 34 meter modified antenna, along with a candidate array configuration for each. Modified antenna trade analyses are summarized, risks analyzed, costs presented, and a final antennaarray configuration recommendation made.

A highly successful Earth orbiting synthetic antenna aperture radar (SAR) system, known as the SIR-C mission, was carried into orbit in 1994 on a U.S. Shuttle (Space Transportation System) mission. The radar system was mounted in the cargo bay with no need to fold, or in any other way reduce the size of the antennas for launch. Weight and size were not limited for the L-Band, C-Band, and X-Band radar systems of the SIR-C radar imaging mission; the set of antennas weighed 10,500 kg, the L-Band antenna having the major share of the weight. This paper treats designing an L-Band antenna functionally similar to that used for SIR-C, but at a fraction of the cost and at a weight in the order of 250 kg. Further, the antenna must be folded to fit into the small payload shroud of low cost booster rocket systems. Over 31 square meters of antenna area is required. This low weight, foldable, electronic scanning antenna is for the proposed LightSAR radar system which is to be placed in Earth orbit on a small, dedicated space craft at the lowest possible cost for an efficient L-Band radar imaging system. This LightSAR spacecraft radar is to be continuously available for at least five operational years, and have the ability to map or repeat-map any area on earth within a few days of any request. A microstrip patch array, with microstrip transmission lines heavily employed in the aperture and in the corporate feed network, was chosen as the low cost approach for this active dual-polarization, 80 MHz (6.4%) bandwidth antenna design.

A highly successful Earth orbiting synthetic antenna aperture radar (SAR) system, known as the SIR-C mission, was carried into orbit in 1994 on a U.S. Shuttle (Space Transportation System) mission. The radar system was mounted in the cargo bay with no need to fold, or in any other way reduce the size of the antennas for launch. Weight and size were not limited for the L-Band, C-Band, and X-Band radar systems of the SIR-C radar imaging mission; the set of antennas weighed 10,500 kg, the L-Band antenna having the major share of the weight. This paper treats designing an L-Band antenna functionally similar to that used for SIR-C, but at a fraction of the cost and at a weight in the order of 250 kg. Further, the antenna must be folded to fit into the small payload shroud of low cost booster rocket systems. Over 31 square meters of antenna area is required. This low weight, foldable, electronic scanning antenna is for the proposed LightSAR radar system which is to be placed in Earth orbit on a small, dedicated space craft at the lowest possible cost for an efficient L- Band radar imaging system. This LightSAR spacecraft radar is to be continuously available for at least five operational years, and have the ability to map or repeat-map any area on earth within a few days of any request. A microstrip patch array, with microstrip transmission lines heavily employed in the aperture and in the corporate feed network, was chosen as the low cost approach for this active dual-polarization, 80 MHz (6.4%) bandwidth antenna design.

Wireless local area network (WLAN) is a technology that combines computer network with wireless communication technology. The 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands in the Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band can be used in the WLAN environment. Because of the development of wireless communication technology and the use of the frequency bands without the need for authorization, the application of WLAN is becoming more and more extensive. As the key part of the WLAN system, the antenna must also be adapted to the development of WLAN communication technology. This paper designs two new dual-frequency microstripantennas with the use of electromagnetic simulation software—High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The two antennas adopt ordinary FR4 material as a dielectric substrate, with the advantages of low cost and small size. The first antenna adopts microstrip line feeding, and the antenna radiation patch is composed of a folded T-shaped radiating dipole which reduces the antenna size, and two symmetrical rectangular patches located on both sides of the T-shaped radiating patch. The second antenna is a microstrip patch antenna fed by coaxial line, and the size of the antenna is diminished by opening a stepped groove on the two edges of the patch and a folded slot inside the patch. Simulation experiments prove that the two designed antennas have a higher gain and a favourable transmission characteristic in the working frequency range, which is in accordance with the requirements of WLAN communication. PMID:27355954

The integral equation and moment method solution is developed for two different antennas in the presence of an infinite grounded dielectric substrate. The first antenna is a rectangular microstrip patch antenna. This antenna is analyzed for excitation by an incident plane wave in free space and a vertical filament of uniform current in the dielectric. This antenna can be loaded by a lumped impedance in a vertical filament of uniform current extending from the patch through the dielectric to the ground plane. The radar cross section of the microstripantenna is found from the plane wave excitation and shows good agreement to measurement for both an unloaded and loaded antenna. The input impedance is found from the current filament excitation. This is compared to the measured input impedance of a coaxially fed microstripantenna and shows good agreement for both unloaded and loaded antennas when the dielectric substrate is much less than a wavelength. The second antenna is a vertical thin wire extending from the ground plane into or through the dielectric substrate. The mutual impedance between two imbedded monopoles is compared to a previous calculation.

Wireless local area network (WLAN) is a technology that combines computer network with wireless communication technology. The 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands in the Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band can be used in the WLAN environment. Because of the development of wireless communication technology and the use of the frequency bands without the need for authorization, the application of WLAN is becoming more and more extensive. As the key part of the WLAN system, the antenna must also be adapted to the development of WLAN communication technology. This paper designs two new dual-frequency microstripantennas with the use of electromagnetic simulation software-High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The two antennas adopt ordinary FR4 material as a dielectric substrate, with the advantages of low cost and small size. The first antenna adopts microstrip line feeding, and the antenna radiation patch is composed of a folded T-shaped radiating dipole which reduces the antenna size, and two symmetrical rectangular patches located on both sides of the T-shaped radiating patch. The second antenna is a microstrip patch antenna fed by coaxial line, and the size of the antenna is diminished by opening a stepped groove on the two edges of the patch and a folded slot inside the patch. Simulation experiments prove that the two designed antennas have a higher gain and a favourable transmission characteristic in the working frequency range, which is in accordance with the requirements of WLAN communication.

The number of wireless communication applications continue to increase steadily, leading to competition for currently allocated frequency bands. Capacity issues in form of data rate and latency have always been a bottleneck for broadband wireless-communication usage. New communication systems like ultra-wideband (UWB) require larger bandwidth than what is normally utilized with traditional antenna techniques. The interest for compact consumer electronics is growing in the meantime, creating a demand on efficient and low profile antennas which can be integrated on a printed circuit board. The main objective of this thesis is to study, design, analyze and implement UWB low profile microstrip patch antenna that satisfy UWB technology requirements. Some methods to extend the bandwidth and other antenna parameters associated with wideband usages are studied. Several techniques are used for optimal UWB bandwidth performance of the UWB microstrip patch antenna. The performance parameters such as VSWR, Gain and radiation pattern of the UWB microstrip patch antenna is extensively investigated with simulations using FEKO. A set of simple design guidelines is proposed to provide approximate rules that result in optimum "first-pass" designs of probe-fed, miniaturized, low profile, microstrip UWB antennas using different bandwidth-enhancement techniques to satisfy UWB bandwidth that require minimal tuning.

In this paper, a novel bird face microstrip printed monopole ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is investigated. The proposed compact antenna consists of a ring-shaped with additional slot and slotted ground plane on FR4 material. The overall electrical dimension of the proposed antenna is 0.25 λ×0.36 λ×0.016 λ and is energized by microstrip feed line. The Computer Simulation Technology (CST) and the High Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS) is applied in this analysis. The impedance bandwidth of the monopole antenna cover 3.1-12.3 GHz (9.2 GHz, BW) frequency range. The messurement displayed that the designed antenna achieved excellent gain and stable omnidirectional radiation patterns within the UWB. The maximum gain of 6.8 dBi and omnidirectional radiation pattern makes the proposed antenna that is suitable for UWB systems.

In this paper, two-dimensional photonic crystals working at terahertz (THz) frequency is analyzed, a multi-frequency terahertz microstrip patch antenna on photonic crystal substrate is presented and its electromagnetic wave propagation phenomenon is investigated. The proposed antenna can work at five frequency points' scope at terahertz frequency regions, and the radiation efficiency is as high as ~96%. The photonic crystal structure of the substrate is used to enhance the gain, directivity and radiation efficiency of the antenna.

Green’s function appropriate to the two-layer substrate- superstrate structure was used in the formulation of the method of moMents - (continued on back) 20...analysis is presented for an infinite phased array of microstrip dipoles embedded within a two layer substrate structure (sub- strate- superstrate ...characterization of input impedance as a function of phase scan angle. Results for several sub- strate- superstrate structures illustrate the utility of the single

The design parameters of a microstripantenna were studied to determine its performance characteristics as affected by an atmospheric entry probe environment. The technical literature was reviewed to identify the known design and performance characteristics. These data were used to evaluate the expected effects of mission environments on the microstripantenna design proposed for the Saturn/Uranus Atmospheric Entry Probe (SAEP). Radiation patterns and VSWR measurements were made to evaluate the performance in the SAEP thermal environment. Results of the literature search and pattern tests confirm that the microstripantenna is a good choice as a transmitting antenna on the SAEP. The microstripantenna is efficient, compact, and well suited to a space environment. The pattern can be controlled with a minimum beamwidth of 60 degrees (air substrate; e.g., honeycomb structure) and a maximum on the order of 100 degrees with higher dielectric constant substrates. The power handling capacity is good and can be improved by covering the antenna with a dielectric cover.

A design of a coaxial vertical antenna proposed in the ARRL antenna handbook is analyzed. A numerical analysis was carried out using the moment method. A variety of antenna configurations in the 160 MHz design frequency are analyzed and current distribution, gain, polar diagrams and impedances are calculated. The analysis is carried out for simple configurations and extended to a case with 16 repeated center sections. The effects of using lossy cable in the construction is also investigated. A defect in the original ARRL design is rectified. An array of an overall length 5.33 wavelengths is shown to have a gain of 10.69 dB.

Introduction: Inflatable antenna technology is being developed by JPL/NASA to enable the capabilities of low mass, high packaging efficiency, and low-cost deployment for future spacecraft high-gain and large aperture antennas. One of the technologies being considered [11 is the inflatable microstrip reflectarray. A conventional inflatable parabolic reflector antenna will offer similar advantages with the added capability of wide electrical bandwidth. However, it suffers from the difficulty of maintaining its required large, thin, and curved-parabolic surface in the space environment. Since the microstrip reflectarray has the "natural" flat reflecting surface, it is much easier to maintain the required surface tolerance using an inflatable structure. This is the primary reason, despite its narrow bandwidth characteristic, that the inflatable microstrip reflectarray is being studied. This article discusses an already-developed one-meter X-band inflatable microstrip reflectarray and a three-meter Ka-band inflatable microstrip reflectarray which is currently under development. Both antennas' RF structures are designed at JPL and their mechanical inflatable structures are designed and manufactured at ILC Dover, Inc.

Basis functions were studied and identified that provide efficient and accurate solutions for the induced patch currents and the reflection phase in microstrip reflect arrays. The integral equation of an infinite array of microstrip elements in the form of patches or crossed dipoles excited by a uniform plane wave is solved by the method-of-moments. Efficient choices of entire domain basis functions that yield accurate results have been described.

A method is presented for analyzing a finite planar array of circular microstrip patches fed by coaxial probes. The self- and mutual impedances between array elements are calculated using the method of moments with the dyadic Green's function for a dielectric layer on a ground plane. The patch circuits are determined by using the reaction integral equation. The active input impedance as well as the active element pattern of the array are computed from a knowledge of the resultant patch currents. The calculated results for two-element and eight-element linear arrays are in good agreement with experimental data. The active reflection coefficient and element pattern for the center and edge elements of a two-dimensional array as a function of scan angle are also presented.

This paper summarizes the development of a 23.675 GHz linear 16-element scanning phased arrayantenna based on thin ferroelectric film coupled microstripline phase shifters and microstrip patch radiators.

View north of the antennaarray, note the communications antenna in the middleground - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Four AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

In this study, a new architecture for Ka-band multi-beam arrays was developed and demonstrated experimentally. The goal of the investigation was to demonstrate a new architecture that has the potential of reducing the cost as compared to standard expensive phased array technology. The goals of this specific part of the project, as stated in the yearly statement of work in the original proposal are: 1. Investigate bounds on performance of multi-beam lens arrays in terms of beamwidths, volume (size), isolation between beams, number of simultaneous beams, etc. 2. Design a small-scale array to demonstrate the principle. The array will be designed for operation around 3OGHz (Ka-band), with two 10-degree beamwidth beams. 3. Investigate most appropriate way to accomplish fine-tuning of the beam pointing within 5 degrees around the main beam pointing angle.

A three-dimensionally integrated microstripantenna (3DIMA) is a microstripantenna woven into the three-dimensional woven composite for load bearing while functioning as an antenna. In this study, the effect of weaving direction of conductive yarns on electromagnetic performance of 3DIMAs are investigated by designing, simulating and experimental testing of two microstripantennas with different weaving directions of conductive yarns: one has the conductive yarns along the antenna feeding direction (3DIMA-Exp1) and the other has the conductive yarns perpendicular the antenna feeding direction (3DIMA-Exp2). The measured voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of 3DIMA-Exp1 was 1.4 at the resonant frequencies of 1.39 GHz; while that of 3DIMA-Exp2 was 1.2 at the resonant frequencies of 1.35 GHz. In addition, the measured radiation pattern of the 3DIMA-Exp1 has smaller back lobe and higher gain value than those of the 3DIMA-Exp2. This result indicates that the waving direction of conductive yarns may have a significant impact on electromagnetic performance of textile structural antennas.

The development of radar technology has an important role in several fields such as aviation, civil engineering, geology, and medicine. One of the essential components of the radar system is the antenna. The bandwidth can specify the resolution of the radar. The wider the bandwidth, the higher the resolution of radar. For Ground penetrating radar (GPR) or medical applications need with a high-resolution radar so it needs an antenna with a wide bandwidth. In addition, for the radar application is required antenna with directional radiation pattern. So, we need an antenna with wide bandwidth and directional radiation pattern. One of antenna that has meet with these characteristics is vivaldi antenna. In previous research, has designed several vivaldi microstripantenna for ultra-wideband radar applications which has a working frequency of 3.1 to 10.7 GHz. However, these studies there is still a shortage of one of them is the radiation pattern from lowest to highest frequency radiation pattern is not uniform in the sense that not all directional. Besides the antenna material used is also not easily available and the price is not cheap. This paper will discuss the design of a vivaldi microstripantenna which has a wide bandwidth with directional radiation pattern works on 3.1 to 10.7 GHz and using cheaper substrate. Substrates used for vivaldi microstripantenna vivaldi is FR4 with a dielectric constant of 4.3 and a thickness of 1.6 mm. Based on the simulation results we obtained that the antenna design has frequency range 3.1-10.7 GHz for return loss less than -10 dB with a directional radiation pattern. This antenna gain is 4.8 to 8 dBi with the largest dimension is 50 mm x 40 mm.

The integration of microstrip patch antennas with photovoltaics has been proposed for applications in autonomous wireless communication systems located on building facades. Full integration was achieved using polycrystalline silicon solar cells as both antenna ground plane and direct current power generation in the same device. An overview of the proposed photovoltaic antenna designs is provided and the variation characterised of the electromagnetic properties of the device with temperature and solar radiation. Measurements for both copper and solar antennas are reported on three different commercial laminates with contrasting values for thermal coefficient of the dielectric constant. (author)

The paper deals with the analysis of circular microstripantenna in weakly ionized plasma medium using the concept of vector magnetic potential, the expression for electric field and magnetic field has been obtained. Attempt has also been made to obtain the radiation resistance, trans-conductance and power radiated from the antenna. Particular emphasis has been given to estimate the effects of weakly ionized plasma medium on the directivity of antenna. It has been found that radiation characteristics and directivity of antenna affected sincerely by the weakly ionized plasma medium.

The effects of a thick cover layer on the radiation characteristics of a microstrip patch antenna are investigated. A magnetic line source model has been used to derive explicit expressions for the far field, radiated power, directivity, and surface wave of the antenna. Numerical results are presented to show the effects of a lossless as well as a lossy dielectric cover layer on the surface waves and the radiated power.

A novel and accurate expression is obtained by employing the differential evolution algorithm for the effective side length (ESL) of the equilateral triangular microstripantenna (ETMA). This useful formula allows the antenna engineers to accurately calculate the ESL of the ETMA. The computed resonant frequencies (RFs) show very good agreement with the experimental RFs when this accurate ESL formula is utilised for the computation of the RFs for the first five modes.

In this work a powerful terahertz antennaarray with interdigital electrodes is fabricated, and the performance of one antenna unit is compared with a conventional resonant dipole antenna. The antenna unit has a better capacity of generating THz wave compared with a conventional resonant dipole antenna at the same bias electrical field and the same laser energy. However only 23 % of THz wave transmitted through the ceramic substrate of antennaarray, if there is a hole drilled through ceramic substrate to release the THz wave, the THz amplitude of entire interdigital antennaarray with 8 antenna units can be more than 10 times larger than that of resonant dipole antenna. To get this result, the pump beam is focused into a linear beam by a cylindrical lens to trigger the antennaarray, and the linear THz wave is focused by a polyethylene lens before it reaches ZnTe crystal.

The characteristics of higher-order modes of circular microstripantennas, such as radiation pattern, directivity, bandwidth, efficiency, and location of the feedpoint to match a 50 ohm line, are studied, and the effects of varying the substrate parameters are investigated. A multifeed technique to generate any particular mode is also presented.

Circularly polarized microstripantennas are popular for satellite communications due to their circularly polarized orientation. They are used frequently in modern day satellite communication. In order to achieve wide angular coverage in satellite communication, a wide beamwidth is required from the antenna. Traditional single layer microstripantenna inherently demonstrates low angular beamwidth of approximately 600 to 800and thereby lacks wide angular coverage when used for satellite communication. The objective of this thesis is to design a single-fed stacked microstripantenna using different perturbation techniques in order to achieve a wide angular beamwidth. This thesis presents a new design for a circularly polarized antenna based on the hybrid perturbation scheme. First, a method of stacked patch-ring with negative perturbation was used to generate a significantly larger beamwidth of 1060. The axial ratio (AR) bandwidth obtained is also significantly larger compared to the case when square rings are used as parasitic and driven rings with a single feed. A simulated impedance bandwidth (S11< - 10 dB) of 16%, 3 dB AR bandwidth of 8% and a peak gain of 8.65 dBic are obtained from this design. Next, a new design of stacked hybrid antenna is presented, which uses hybrid perturbations to generate circular polarization radiation. An enhanced beamwidth of 1260 was obtained. The simulation results are confirmed by the measured results.

Two different aspects of active antennaarray design were investigated. The transition between monolithic microwave integrated circuits and rectangular waveguides was studied along with crosstalk in multiconductor transmission lines. The boundary value problem associated with a discontinuity in a microstrip line is formulated. This entailed, as a first step, the derivation of the propagating as well as evanescent modes of a microstrip line. The solution is derived to a simple discontinuity problem: change in width of the center strip. As for the multiconductor transmission line problem. A computer algorithm was developed for computing the crosstalk noise from the signal to the sense lines. The computation is based on the assumption that these lines are terminated in passive loads.

In this paper a dual band planar antenna has been proposed for IEEE 802.16 Wi-MAX /IEEE 802.11 WLAN/4.9 GHz public safety applications. The antenna comprises a frequency bandwidth of 560MHz (3.37GHz-3.93GHz) for WLAN and WiMAX and 372MHz (4.82GHz-5.192GHz) for 4.9 GHz public safety applications and Radio astronomy services (4.8-4.94 GHz). The proposed antenna constitutes of a single microstrip patch reactively loaded with three identical steps positioned in a zig-zag manner towards the radiating edges of the patch. The coaxially fed patch antenna characteristics (radiation pattern, antenna gain, antenna directivity, current distribution, S11) have been investigated. The antenna design is primarily focused on achieving a dual band operation.

An antenna comprising a phased array of quadrifilar helix or other multifilar antenna elements and a time-delaying feed network adapted to feed the elements. The feed network can employ a plurality of coaxial cables that physically bridge a microstrip feed circuitry to feed power signals to the elements. The cables provide an incremental time delay which is related to their physical lengths, such that replacing cables having a first set of lengths with cables having a second set of lengths functions to change the time delay and shift or steer the antenna's main beam. Alternatively, the coaxial cables may be replaced with a programmable signal processor unit adapted to introduce the time delay using signal processing techniques applied to the power signals.

physical length of fiber. After photodetection , the RF calibration signals are applied directly to an array of electrically small dipole antennas...allows static adjustment over both the amplitude and phase. After photodetection , the RF signal is placed across the ESDA antenna located at each unit...fed using a double Marchand balun. The Marchand balun consists of a microstrip (unbalanced)-to-slotline ( balanced ) transition. The balun design uses

A method of computing the input impedance for the probe fed circular microstripantenna with thick dielectric substrate is presented. Utilizing the framework of the cavity model, the fields under the microstrip patch are expanded in a set of modes satisfying the boundary conditions on the eccentrically located probe, as well as on the cavity magnetic wall. A mode-matching technique is used to solve for the electric field at the junction between the cavity and the coaxial feed cable. The reflection coefficient of the transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode incident in the coaxial cable is determined, from which the input impedance of the antenna is computed. Measured data are presented to verify the theoretical calculations. Results of the computation of various losses for the circular printed antenna as a function of substrate thickness are also included.

A simple microstripline feed network for an array module comprising four microstrip elements is described. The advantages and disadvantages of the network are discussed as well as a theoretical explanation for the radiation characteristics of array modules using the network.

A microstriparrayantenna for vertically polarized fan beam (approximately 2 deg x 50 deg) for C-band SAR applications with a physical area of 1.7 m by 0.17 m comprises two rows of patch elements and employs a parallel feed to left- and right-half sections of the rows. Each section is divided into two segments that are fed in parallel with the elements in each segment fed in series through matched transmission lines for high efficiency. The inboard section has half the number of patch elements of the outboard section, and the outboard sections, which have tapered distribution with identical transmission line sections, terminated with half wavelength long open-circuit stubs so that the remaining energy is reflected and radiated in phase. The elements of the two inboard segments of the two left- and right-half sections are provided with tapered transmission lines from element to element for uniform power distribution over the central third of the entire arrayantenna. The two rows of array elements are excited at opposite patch feed locations with opposite (180 deg difference) phases for reduced cross-polarization.

A novel compact broadband microstrip patch antenna is presented for various wireless applications. The proposed antenna has been fabricated and the impedance bandwidth and radiation pattern are measured. The simulated and measured antenna characteristics along with radiation pattern and gain are presented. It is stated that the proposed designed antenna can completely cover the required band widths of Digital communication system (DCS 1.71-1.88 GHz), Personal communication system (PCS 1.85-1.88 GHz) and IEEE 802.11b/g (2.4-2.485 GHz) with satisfactory radiation characteristics. The Experimental result shows that the proposed antenna presents a bandwidth 60.25% covering the range of 1.431-2.665 GHz with the maximum radiation efficiency 90%.

A meandered-microstrip fed circular shaped monopole antenna loaded with vertical slots on a high dielectric material substrate (ε r = 15) is proposed in this paper. The performance criteria of the proposed antenna have been experimentally verified by fabricating a printed prototype. The experimental results show that the proposed antenna has achieved wider bandwidth with satisfactory gain by introducing meandered-microstrip feeding in assistant of partial ground plane. It is observed that, the -10 dB impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna at lower band is 44.4% (600 MHz-1 GHz) and at upper band is 28% (2.25 GHz-2.95 GHz). The measured maximum gains of -1.18 dBi and 4.87 dBi with maximum radiation efficiencies have been observed at lower band and upper band, respectively. The antenna configuration and parametric study have been carried out with the help of commercially available computer-aided EM simulator, and a good accordance is perceived in between the simulated and measured results. The analysis of performance criteria and almost consistent radiation pattern make the proposed antenna a suitable candidate for UHF RFID, WiMAX, and WLAN applications.

An antenna system including antenna elements and a satellite tracking method is considered a key technology in implementing land mobile satellite communications. In the early stage of land mobile satellite communications, a mechanical tracking antenna system is considered the best candidate for vehicles, however, a phased arrayantenna will replace it in the near future, because it has many attractive advantages such as a low and compact profile, high speed tracking, and potential low cost. Communications Research Laboratory is now developing a new phased arrayantenna system for land vehicles based on research experiences of the airborne phased arrayantenna, which was developed and evaluated in satellite communication experiments using the ETS-V satellite. The basic characteristics of the phased arrayantenna for land vehicles are described.

Recently introduced passive wireless strain sensors based on microstrip patch antennas have shown great potential for reliable health and usage monitoring in aerospace and civil industries. However, the wireless interrogation range of these sensors is limited to few centimeters, which restricts their practical application. This paper presents an investigation on the effect of circular microstrip patch antenna (CMPA) design on the quality factor and the maximum practical wireless reading range of the sensor. The results reveal that by using appropriate substrate materials the interrogation distance of the CMPA sensor can be increased four-fold, from the previously reported 5 to 20 cm, thus improving considerably the viability of this type of wireless sensors for strain measurement and damage detection. PMID:24451457

An approach to the analysis of microstripantennas which is applicable also to relatively thick substrates using the relevant Green's function is presented. The Green's function is derived and closed form expressions for various antenna characteristics which explicity take into account the presence of the dielectric material are obtained in terms of the electric surface current density. For rectangular microstrip elements near resonance the current distribution is approximated using lossless transmission line analysis, thus enabling the complete evaluation of the characteristics of the element near resonance. The results obtained in this approach for the radiation resistance, surface wave resistance, radiation pattern, directivity, and bandwidth are presented in a detailed set of graphs for a representative set of parameters.

Recently introduced passive wireless strain sensors based on microstrip patch antennas have shown great potential for reliable health and usage monitoring in aerospace and civil industries. However, the wireless interrogation range of these sensors is limited to few centimeters, which restricts their practical application. This paper presents an investigation on the effect of circular microstrip patch antenna (CMPA) design on the quality factor and the maximum practical wireless reading range of the sensor. The results reveal that by using appropriate substrate materials the interrogation distance of the CMPA sensor can be increased four-fold, from the previously reported 5 to 20 cm, thus improving considerably the viability of this type of wireless sensors for strain measurement and damage detection.

Some samples of microstrip patch antennas, loaded or unloaded, with rectangular or equilateral triangle patches are analyzed and computed using the moment method and the spectrum domain method (SDM). A flexible technique for using SDM to analyze a perpendicular current in layered structures is introduced, and an integration technique to improve the convergence is suggested. The results show that loading posts cause a decrease rather than an increase in the resonant frequency.

A foot ulcer is the initiating factor in 85% of all diabetic amputations. Ulcer formation is believed to be contributed by both pressure and shear forces. There are commercially available instruments that can measure plantar pressure. However, instruments for plantar shear measurement are limited. In this paper, we investigate the application of antenna sensors for shear and pressure measurement. The principle of operation of both antenna sensors will be discussed first, followed by detailed descriptions on the antenna designs, sensor fabrication, experimental setup, procedure and results. Because the antenna sensors are small in size, can be wirelessly interrogated, and are frequency multiplexable, we plan to embed them in shoes for simultaneous mapping of plantar shear and pressure distributions in the future.

The need for small, potable antennas for mobile communications has recently spurred the study of microstripantennas (MSA). MSA are quite flexible and have been used as conformal antennas on arbitrary curved surfaces. The characteristics of conformal MSA can be expected to differ from those of planar models. Dependable numerical analyses will obviate many of the costs and other inconveniences associated with experiments, but as antennas may be mounted on the surfaces of arbitrary topological complexity, analysis methods must have as general applicability as possible. The curvilinear finite difference time-domain (FD-TD) method has shown excellent versatility. In this paper, the curvilinear FD-TD method is applied to analyze microstripantennas mounted on curved surfaces. The numerical predictions are compared with the experimental values. The results confirm the predictions within acceptable limits and appear to confirm the validity of the method. As a result, it was confirmed that the input impedance and directivity of MSA on curved surfaces are different from the flat MSA.

A complete set of diabolo optical antennaarrays with different waist widths and periods was fabricated on a sapphire substrate by using a standard e-beam lithography and lift-off process. Fabricated diabolo optical antennaarrays were characterized by measuring the transmittance and reflectance with a microscope-coupled FTIR spectrometer. It was found experimentally that reducing the waist width significantly shifts the resonance to longer wavelength and narrowing the waist of the antennas is more effective than increasing the period of the array for tuning the resonance wavelength. Also it is found that the magnetic field enhancement near the antenna waist is correlated to the shift of the resonance wavelength.

A complete set of diabolo optical antennaarrays with different waist widths and periods was fabricated on a sapphire substrate by using a standard e-beam lithography and lift-off process. Fabricated diabolo optical antennaarrays were characterized by measuring the transmittance and reflectance with a microscope-coupled FTIR spectrometer. It was found experimentally that reducing the waist width significantly shifts the resonance to longer wavelength and narrowing the waist of the antennas is more effective than increasing the period of the array for tuning the resonance wavelength. Also it is found that the magnetic field enhancement near the antenna waist is correlated to the shift of the resonance wavelength.

The effective relative permittivity and effective relative permeability of magneto-dielectric materials when used as substrate for microstripantenna shows interdependency. This dependency was analyzed through simulation and verified by synthesizing nano composite ferrite. The 40nm nano crystallite size particles were synthesized using a co- precipitation method. Matching values of complex permittivity (ɛ* = 4.2-0.1j) and complex permeability (μ* = 4.3-0.2j) at 1 GHz were obtained from the electromagnetic characterization. The microstripantenna with coaxial feed was fabricated and the interdependence of relative permittivity and relative permeability was verified. An error of 7% in the drawn length was observed for ɛr and μr of the order of 4. The magneto-dielectric material with composition Mn0.5Zn0.3Co0.2Fe2O4+BaFe12O19 proposed in this paper definitely can be proposed as a substrate material for miniaturized antenna. The antenna with desired resonant frequency can be fabricated by calculating the effective medium parameters as discussed in the paper.

In this paper, a miniaturized microstrip patch antenna using a negative index metamaterial with modified split-ring resonator (SRR) unit cells is proposed for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. The new design of metamaterial based microstrip patch antenna has been optimized to provide an improved bandwidth and multiple frequency operations. All the antenna performance parameters are presented in response-graphs. Also it is mentioned that the physical dimensions of the metamaterial based patch antenna are very small, which is convenient to modern communication. A 130 % bandwidth, covering the frequency band of 2.9-13.5 GHz, (for return loss less than or equal -10 dB) is achieved, which allow the antenna to operate in the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) band. In addition, the antenna has a good radiation pattern in the ultra-wide band spectrum, and it is nearly omnidirectional.

In this work, the full-wave method is used for computing the resonant frequency, the bandwidth, and radiation pattern of High temperature superconductor, or an imperfectly conducting annular ring microstrip, which is printed on uniaxial anisotropic substrate. Galerkin’s method is used in the resolution of the electric field integral equation. The TM set of modes issued from the cavity model theory are used to expand the unknown currents on the patch. Numerical results concerning the effect of the anisotropic substrates on the antenna performance are presented and discussed. It is found that microstrip superconducting could give high efficiency with high gain in millimeter wavelengths. Results are compared with previously published data and are found to be in good agreement.

The interference protection provided by adaptive antennaarrays to an Earth station or satellite receive antenna system is studied. The case where the interference is caused by the transmission from adjacent satellites or Earth stations whose signals inadverently enter the receiving system and interfere with the communication link is considered. Thus, the interfering signals are very weak. To increase the interference suppression, one can either decrease the thermal noise in the feedback loops or increase the gain of the auxiliary antennas in the interfering signal direction. Both methods are examined. It is shown that one may have to reduce the noise correlation to impractically low values and if directive auxiliary antennas are used, the auxiliary antenna size may have to be too large. One can, however, combine the two methods to achieve the specified interference suppression with reasonable requirements of noise decorrelation and auxiliary antenna size. Effects of the errors in the steering vector on the adaptive array performance are studied.

A composite ceramic with nominal composition of 45.0 wt%(Ba0.5Sr0.5)TiO3-55.0 wt%MgO (acronym is BST-MgO) is sintered for fabricating a frequency reconfigurable aperture-coupled microstripantenna. The calcined BST-MgO composite ceramic exhibits good microwave dielectric properties at X-band with appropriate dielectric constant ɛr around 85, lower dielectric loss tan δ about 0.01, and higher permittivity tunability 14.8% at 8.33 kV/cm. An ultrahigh E-field tunability of working frequency up to 11.0% (i.e., from 9.1 GHz to 10.1 GHz with a large frequency shift of 1000 MHz) at a DC bias field from 0 to 8.33 kV/cm and a considerably large center gain over 7.5 dB are obtained in the designed frequency reconfigurable microstripantenna. These results demonstrate that BST materials are promising for the frequency reconfigurable antenna. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11074040) and the Key Project of Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, China (Grant No. ZR2012FZ006).

Low density polyethylene (LDPE)/Alumina (Al2O3) composite systems have been studied as an alternate substrate for microstrip patch antennas (MPA). Morphological, thermal and microwave characterizations of the composites are carried out for different volume fractions of Al2O3 in the LDPE matrix. The size and the distribution of alumina particles are quite uniform in the composite. Enhancement of thermal and microwave properties of the composite over the parent polymer is observed. Simple rectangular MPA in X-band is fabricated on the composite material to verify its applicability as substrates for MPA. A return loss of ~ -26dB is observed at the design frequency.

A method to enhance the gain of a single microstrip patch antenna using spaced superstrates as a dielectric parasite is presented. The experimental results of radiation pattern using alumina parasites with different thicknesses and spacings are given. The minimum beamwidth obtainable with a single patch using present studies is only 18 deg with symmetric lobes in the H and E planes. This simple method can also be used to vary the beamwidth of the patch between 18 and 125 deg with proper choice of parasite parameters.

Juno is a mission in the NASA New Frontiers Program with the goal of significantly improving our understanding of the formation and structure of Jupiter. This paper discusses the modeling and measurement of the two patch arrayantennas. An overview of the antenna architecture, design and development at JPL is provided, along with estimates of performance and the results of measurements.

By independent control of the phases and amplitudes of its elements, the microstrip transmission-line array can mitigate sample-induced RF non-uniformities, and has been widely used as the transceiver in parallel imaging applications. One major challenge in implementing the microstriparray is the reduction of mutual coupling among individual elements. The low-input impedance preamplifier is commonly used for the decoupling purpose. However, it is impractical in the transceiver array design. Although interconnecting capacitors can be utilized to reduce the mutual coupling, they only efficiently work for the neighbor elements. In addition, this approach is impractical at fields higher than 300 MHz, in which the required decoupling capacitance is commonly less than 0.5 pF. We propose a novel decoupling approach by using decoupling inductors in this study. Due to the fact that the decoupling inductance is independent of the resonant frequency, the microstriparrays can be well decoupled at ultra-high fields. To verify the proposed approach, an eight-channel microstriparray is fabricated and tested at 9.4 T. For this prototype, couplings between elements are significantly reduced by using the interconnecting inductors. The phantom experiment shows that the inductively decoupled microstriparray has good parallel imaging performance.

Miniaturization of a microstrip patch antenna using composite nanosized ferrite material is proposed in this paper. Detailed simulations were performed to analyze the effect of increase in relative permeability of substrate material on physical size and efficiency of a microstripantenna. An analytical expression for estimation of the effective relative permeability is established here on the basis of the detailed simulation. Composite nano ferrite (Mn0.5Zn0.35Co0.15Fe2O4 + SrFe12O19) with an average crystallite size of 72 nm was synthesized and characterized for electromagnetic properties. The substrate material was prepared by the co-precipitation method. Matching values of complex permittivity ( ɛ* = 4.1-0.1j) and complex permeability ( μ* = 3.72-0.28j) up to 1 GHz were obtained from the electromagnetic characterization. Measurement of the resonant frequency of the fabricated antenna validates the derived expression of effective relative permeability. It reduces the error in calculation of resonant frequency from 10% to 1%. Simulation and measurement results also confirm that an antenna fabricated with the above parameters can reduce the patch size by almost 44% and increases -10 dB reflection loss bandwidth over a pure dielectric FR4 substrate. Therefore, we propose here an analytical expression for estimation of effective relative permeability and Mn0.5Zn0.35Co0.15Fe2O4 + SrFe12O19 composite nano ferrites as suitable candidate for a high-bandwidth miniaturized antenna in the microwave frequency range.

The calculation of currents induced by a plane wave normally incident upon an infinite strip embedded in a grounded dielectric slab is used to infer the resonant width (or frequency) of rectangular microstripantennas. By placing the strip inside the dielectric, the effect of a dielectric cover of the same material as the substrate can be included in the calculation of resonant frequency. A comparison with measured results indicated agreement of 1 percent or better for rectangular microstripantennas constructed on Teflon-fiberglass substrate.

Antenna pointing faster than mechanical scanning. Three antenna phased array connected to receiving signal-processing system through two phase-shifting networks. Two networks simultaneously steer phased array in two slightly-different beam directions; one for scanning, one for tracking. Technique has many uses in military and civilian radar, principally in tracking aircraft, balloonborne weather instruments, and other moving signal sources or reflectors.

Fifth generation (5G) needs to provide better coverage than the previous generation. However, high frequency and millimeter wave experience penetration loss, propagation loss and even more loss in energy for long distance. Hence, a graphene arrayantenna is proposed for high gain to cover a long distance communications since arrayantenna enables in providing more directive beams. The investigation is conducted on three types of substrates with gain achieved is more than 7 dBi. The gain obtained is good since it is comparable with other studies. In addition, these antennas consume small numbers of elements to achieve high gain.

This paper presents a compact sized inset-fed rectangular microstrip patch antenna embedded with double-P slots. The proposed antenna has been designed and fabricated on ceramic-PTFE composite material substrate of high dielectric constant value. The measurement results from the fabricated prototype of the antenna show −10 dB reflection coefficient bandwidths of 200 MHz and 300 MHz with center resonant frequency of 1.5 GHz and 4 GHz, respectively. The fabricated antenna has attained gains of 3.52 dBi with 81% radiation efficiency and 5.72 dBi with 87% radiation efficiency for lower band and upper band, respectively. The measured E- and H-plane radiation patterns are also presented for better understanding. Good agreement between the simulation and measurement results and consistent radiation patterns make the proposed antenna suitable for GPS and C-band applications. PMID:25165750

Boundary conditions are enforced on a portion of the microstrip feed line as well as the patch antenna. The integral equation for the unknown currents on the antenna and feed is solved by applying the Galerkin method of moments in the Fourier transform domain. The validity of the solution is tested by comparison of computed results with experimental data. The theoretical treatment proves to be applicable to the most common feeding arrangements, namely, the direct edge-feed and proximity coupling excitation. In the latter case, two-layer substrates having distinct dielectric constants are studied. The purpose of the study is to deduce, for a given overall substrate thickness, the smallest line-ground plane separation for which a match of the radiator to the feed line is still possible. The advantages of such a configuration are discussed.

This paper presents the miniaturization of the microstripantenna on ferrimagnetic substrate for operate at a frequency of 2.5 GHz, where the full wave method Transverse Transmission Line-TTL is used it for obtain resonance frequency. For validate this method in these substrates, the results as function of DC magnetic field are shown. When the field is 132.6 AT/m, the value of reference is 151.7 MHz and the value of TTL is 151.3 MHz. The dimensions are obtained for the frequency of 2.5 GHz and a comparison is done with ferrites and conventional substrate, showing a reduction in volume of the antenna of 2808.96 mm3 for 0.39 mm3 when the ferrites are used.

A VHF microstrip patch antenna was developed to achieve a bandwidth of 45 MHz (30%) from 127 MHz to 172 MHz with dual-linear-polarization capability. This microstripantenna used foam substrates and dual stacked patches with capacitive probe feeds to achieve wide bandwidth. Four such capacitive feeds were used to achieve dual polarizations with less than -20 dB of cross-polarization level. Twenty-four shorting pins were used on the lower patch to achieve acceptable isolation between the four feed probes. This antenna has a measured gain of 8.5 dB at 137 MHz and 10 dB at 162 MHz. By using the Method of Moments technique, multipath scattering patterns were calculated when the antenna is mounted on the outside of a Twin Otter aircraft.

General view looking north-northwest at antennaarray. Troposhperic scatter communications antennas are seen at far left, transmitter building is in center, antennaarray at right - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Moscow Radar Site Transmit Sector One AntennaArray, At the end of Steam Road, Moscow, Somerset County, ME

A meander stripline feed multiband microstripantenna loaded with metasurface reflector (MSR) structure has been designed, analyzed and constructed that offers the wireless communication services for UHF/microwave RFID and WLAN/WiMAX applications. The proposed MSR assimilated antenna comprises planar straight forward design of circular shaped radiator with horizontal slots on it and 2D metasurface formed by the periodic square metallic element that resembles the behavior of metamaterials. A custom made high dielectric bio-plastic substrate (εr = 15) is used for fabricating the prototype of the MSR embedded planar monopole antenna. The details of the design progress through numerical simulations and experimental results are presented and discussed accordingly. The measured impedance bandwidth, radiation patterns and gain of the proposed MSR integrated antenna are compared with the obtained results from numerical simulation, and a good compliance can be observed between them. The investigation shows that utilization of MSR structure has significantly broadened the -10dB impedance bandwidth than the conventional patch antenna: from 540 to 632 MHz (17%), 467 to 606 MHz (29%) and 758 MHz to 1062 MHz (40%) for three distinct operating bands centered at 0.9, 3.5 and 5.5 GHz. Additionally, due to the assimilation of MSR, the overall realized gains have been upgraded to a higher value of 3.62 dBi, 6.09 dBi and 8.6 dBi for lower, middle and upper frequency band respectively. The measured radiation patterns, impedance bandwidths (S11antenna prototype exhibit reasonable characteristics that can satisfy the requirements of UHF/microwave (5.8 GHz) RFID, WiMAX (3.5/5.5 GHz) and WLAN (5.2/5.8 GHz) applications. PMID:26018795

A meander stripline feed multiband microstripantenna loaded with metasurface reflector (MSR) structure has been designed, analyzed and constructed that offers the wireless communication services for UHF/microwave RFID and WLAN/WiMAX applications. The proposed MSR assimilated antenna comprises planar straight forward design of circular shaped radiator with horizontal slots on it and 2D metasurface formed by the periodic square metallic element that resembles the behavior of metamaterials. A custom made high dielectric bio-plastic substrate (εr = 15) is used for fabricating the prototype of the MSR embedded planar monopole antenna. The details of the design progress through numerical simulations and experimental results are presented and discussed accordingly. The measured impedance bandwidth, radiation patterns and gain of the proposed MSR integrated antenna are compared with the obtained results from numerical simulation, and a good compliance can be observed between them. The investigation shows that utilization of MSR structure has significantly broadened the -10 dB impedance bandwidth than the conventional patch antenna: from 540 to 632 MHz (17%), 467 to 606 MHz (29%) and 758 MHz to 1062 MHz (40%) for three distinct operating bands centered at 0.9, 3.5 and 5.5 GHz. Additionally, due to the assimilation of MSR, the overall realized gains have been upgraded to a higher value of 3.62 dBi, 6.09 dBi and 8.6 dBi for lower, middle and upper frequency band respectively. The measured radiation patterns, impedance bandwidths (S11antenna prototype exhibit reasonable characteristics that can satisfy the requirements of UHF/microwave (5.8 GHz) RFID, WiMAX (3.5/5.5 GHz) and WLAN (5.2/5.8 GHz) applications.

One of the technical challenges in designing a dedicated transceiver radio frequency (RF) array for MR imaging in humans at ultrahigh magnetic fields is how to effectively decouple the resonant elements of the array. In this work, we propose a new approach using tilted microstriparray elements for improving the decoupling performance and potentially parallel imaging capability. To investigate and validate the proposed design technique, an 8-channel volume array with tilted straight-type microstrip elements was designed, capable for human imaging at the ultrahigh field of 7 Tesla. In this volume transceiver array, its electromagnetic decoupling behavior among resonant elements, RF field penetration to biological samples, and parallel imaging performance were studied through bench tests and in vivo MR imaging experiments. In this specific tilted element array design, decoupling among array elements changes with the tilted angle of the elements and the best decoupling can be achieved at certain tilted angle. In vivo human knee MR images were acquired using the tilted volume array at 7 Tesla for method validation. Results of this study demonstrated that the electromagnetic decoupling between array elements and the B1 field strength can be improved by using the tilted element method in microstrip RF coil array designs at the ultrahigh field of 7T.

Hyperthermia therapy of superficial skin disease has proven clinically useful, but current heating equipment is clumsy and technically inadequate for many patients. The present effort describes a dual purpose multielement conformal array microwave applicator that is fabricated from flexible printed circuit board (PCB) material to facilitate heating of large surface areas overlying contoured anatomy. Preliminary studies document the feasibility of combining concentric spiral microstripantennas within multilayer PCB material in order to achieve tissue heating simultaneously with non-invasive thermometry by radiometric sensing of blackbody radiation from the target tissue under the applicator. Results demonstrate that superficial tissue regions may be heated uniformly above 50% of SARmax out to the periphery of 915 MHz conformal array applicators made from arrays of Dual Concentric Conductor apertures. Finally the data clearly demonstrate that separate complimentary antenna structures may be combined together in thin and lightweight conformal arrays to provide heating simultaneously with microwave radiometry based temperature monitoring of superficial tissue.

Some concepts in retinal vision are related here to the area of antennas and antennaarrays. In particular, the principles of insect motion detection based on visual cues have been applied to time-domain radar analysis. Using an example in which simple specular scattering applies, relative velocities are shown to be directly calculable in the case of short temporal pulse radar from phase-independent information for either a moving radar or a moving target.

The excitation of whistler modes from magnetic loop antennas has been investigated experimentally. The field topology of the excited wave driven by a single loop antenna has been measured for different loop orientations with respect to the uniform background field. The fields from two or more antennas at different locations are then created by superposition of the single-loop data. It is shown that an antennaarray can produce nearly plane waves which cannot be achieved with single antennas. By applying a phase shift along the array, oblique wave propagation is obtained. This allows a meaningful comparison with plane wave theory. The Gendrin mode and oblique cyclotron resonance are demonstrated. Wave helicity and polarization in space and time are demonstrated and distinguished from the magnetic helicity of the wave field. The superposition of two oblique plane whistler modes produces in a “whistler waveguide” mode whose polarization and helicity properties are explained. The results show that single point measurements cannot properly establish the wave character of wave packets. The laboratory observations are relevant for excitation and detection of whistler modes in space plasmas.

The excitation of whistler modes from magnetic loop antennas has been investigated experimentally. The field topology of the excited wave driven by a single loop antenna has been measured for different loop orientations with respect to the uniform background field. The fields from two or more antennas at different locations are then created by superposition of the single-loop data. It is shown that an antennaarray can produce nearly plane waves which cannot be achieved with single antennas. By applying a phase shift along the array, oblique wave propagation is obtained. This allows a meaningful comparison with plane wave theory. The Gendrin mode and oblique cyclotron resonance are demonstrated. Wave helicity and polarization in space and time are demonstrated and distinguished from the magnetic helicity of the wave field. The superposition of two oblique plane whistler modes produces in a "whistler waveguide" mode whose polarization and helicity properties are explained. The results show that single point measurements cannot properly establish the wave character of wave packets. The laboratory observations are relevant for excitation and detection of whistler modes in space plasmas.

Using MMICs in phased-array applications above 20 GHz requires complex RF and control signal distribution systems. Conventional waveguide, coaxial cable, and microstrip methods are undesirable due to their high weight, high loss, limited mechanical flexibility and large volume. An attractive alternative to these transmission media, for RF and control signal distribution in MMIC phased-arrayantennas, is optical fiber. Presented are potential system architectures and their associated characteristics. The status of high frequency opto-electronic components needed to realize the potential system architectures is also discussed. It is concluded that an optical fiber network will reduce weight and complexity, and increase reliability and performance, but may require higher power.

A 10 GHz hybrid Y-Ba-Cu-O / GaAs microwave oscillator proximity coupled to a circular microstripantenna was designed, fabricated and characterized. The oscillator was a reflection mode type using a GaAs MESFET as the active element. The feedline, transmission lines, RF chokes, and bias lines were all fabricated from YBa2Cu3O(7-x) superconducting thin films on a 1 cm x 1 cm lanthanum aluminate substrate. The output feedline of the oscillator was wire bonded to a superconducting feedline on a second 1 cm x 1 cm lanthanum aluminate substrate, which was in turn proximity coupled to a circular microstrip patch antenna. Antenna patterns from this active patch antenna and the performance of the oscillator measured at 77 K are reported. The oscillator had a maximum output power of 11.5 dBm at 77 K, which corresponded to an efficiency of 10 percent. In addition, the efficiency of the microstrip patch antenna together with its high temperature superconducting feedline was measured from 85 K to 30 K and was found to be 71 percent at 77 4 increasing to a maximum of 87.4 percent at 30 K.

A recently developed breadboard version of an advanced signal processor for arraying many antennas in NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) can accept inputs in a 500-MHz-wide frequency band from six antennas. The next breadboard version is expected to accept inputs from 16 antennas, and a following developed version is expected to be designed according to an architecture that will be scalable to accept inputs from as many as 400 antennas. These and similar signal processors could also be used for combining multiple wide-band signals in non-DSN applications, including very-long-baseline interferometry and telecommunications. This signal processor performs functions of a wide-band FX correlator and a beam-forming signal combiner. [The term "FX" signifies that the digital samples of two given signals are fast Fourier transformed (F), then the fast Fourier transforms of the two signals are multiplied (X) prior to accumulation.] In this processor, the signals from the various antennas are broken up into channels in the frequency domain (see figure). In each frequency channel, the data from each antenna are correlated against the data from each other antenna; this is done for all antenna baselines (that is, for all antenna pairs). The results of the correlations are used to obtain calibration data to align the antenna signals in both phase and delay. Data from the various antenna frequency channels are also combined and calibration corrections are applied. The frequency-domain data thus combined are then synthesized back to the time domain for passing on to a telemetry receiver

The dual-band operation of a microstrip patch antenna on a Duroid 5870 substrate for Ku- and K-bands is presented. The fabrication of the proposed antenna is performed with slots and a Duroid 5870 dielectric substrate and is excited by a 50 Ω microstrip transmission line. A high-frequency structural simulator (HFSS) is used which is based on the finite element method (FEM) in this research. The measured impedance bandwidth (2 : 1 VSWR) achieved is 1.07 GHz (15.93 GHz-14.86 GHz) on the lower band and 0.94 GHz (20.67-19.73 GHz) on the upper band. A stable omnidirectional radiation pattern is observed in the operating frequency band. The proposed prototype antenna behavior is discussed in terms of the comparisons of the measured and simulated results.

The broadband design of a microstrip patch antenna is presented and experimentally studied for multi-robot cooperation. A parasitic mushroom-like metamaterial (MTM) patch close to a microstrip top patch is excited through gap-coupling, thereby producing a resonance frequency. Because of the design, the resonance frequency of the parasitic MTM patch is adjacent to that of the main patch, and the presented antenna can achieve an enhanced bandwidth of 450 MHz, which is about two times the bandwidth of a conventional patch antenna without the MTM parasitic patch. The error rate of packet transmissions for measuring the distance between a leader robot and a follower robot was also improved by almost two-fold.

The dual-band operation of a microstrip patch antenna on a Duroid 5870 substrate for Ku- and K-bands is presented. The fabrication of the proposed antenna is performed with slots and a Duroid 5870 dielectric substrate and is excited by a 50 Ω microstrip transmission line. A high-frequency structural simulator (HFSS) is used which is based on the finite element method (FEM) in this research. The measured impedance bandwidth (2 : 1 VSWR) achieved is 1.07 GHz (15.93 GHz–14.86 GHz) on the lower band and 0.94 GHz (20.67–19.73 GHz) on the upper band. A stable omnidirectional radiation pattern is observed in the operating frequency band. The proposed prototype antenna behavior is discussed in terms of the comparisons of the measured and simulated results. PMID:24385878

An antennaarray is designed in low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) Ferro A6M{trademark} for a mm-wave application. The antenna is designed to operate at 94 GHz with a few percent bandwidth. A key manufacturing technology is the use of 3 mil diameter vias on a 6 mil pitch to construct the laminated waveguides that form the beamforming network and radiating elements. Measurements for loss in the laminated waveguide are presented. The slot-fed cavity-radiating element is designed to account for extremely tight mutual coupling between elements. The array incorporates a slot-fed multi-layer beamforming network.

Inexpensive, lightweight arrayantennas on flexible substrates are under development to satisfy a need for large-aperture antennas that can be stored compactly during transport and deployed to full size in the field. Conceived for use aboard spacecraft, antennas of this type also have potential terrestrial uses . most likely, as means to extend the ranges of cellular telephones in rural settings. Several simple deployment mechanisms are envisioned. One example is shown in the figure, where the deployment mechanism, a springlike material contained in a sleeve around the perimeter of a flexible membrane, is based on a common automobile window shade. The array can be formed of antenna elements that are printed on small sections of semi-flexible laminates, or preferably, elements that are constructed of conducting fabric. Likewise, a distribution network connecting the elements can be created from conventional technologies such as lightweight, flexible coaxial cable and a surface mount power divider, or preferably, from elements formed from conductive fabrics. Conventional technologies may be stitched onto a supporting flexible membrane or contained within pockets that are stitched onto a flexible membrane. Components created from conductive fabrics may be attached by stitching conductive strips to a nonconductive membrane, embroidering conductive threads into a nonconductive membrane, or weaving predetermined patterns directly into the membrane. The deployable antenna may comprise multiple types of antenna elements. For example, thin profile antenna elements above a ground plane, both attached to the supporting flexible membrane, can be used to create a unidirectional boresight radiation pattern. Or, antenna elements without a ground plane, such as bow-tie dipoles, can be attached to the membrane to create a bidirectional array such as that shown in the figure. For either type of antenna element, the dual configuration, i.e., elements formed of slots in a conductive

Inflatable technology has been identified as a potential solution to the problem of achieving small mass, high packaging efficiency, and reliable deployment for future NASA spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antennas. Presently, there exists a requirement for a dual-polarized L-band SAR antenna with an aperture size of 10m x 3m, a center frequency of 1.25GHz, a bandwidth of 80MHz, electronic beam scanning, and a mass of less than 100kg. The work presented below is part of the ongoing effort to develop such an inflatable antennaarray.

Theoretical research, controlled laboratory tests, and these field test results show that nonmetallic (and metallic) shallowly buried objects can be detected and imaged with the Resonant Microstrip Patch Antenna (RMPA) sensor. The sensor can be modeled as a high Q cavity which capitalizes on its resonant condition sensitivity to scattered waves from buried objects. When the RMPA sensor is swept over a shallowly buried object, the RMPA fed-point impedance (resistance), measured with a Maxwell bridge, changes by tens of percent. The significant change in unprocessed impedance data can be presented in two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphical displays over the survey area. This forms silhouette images of the objects without the application of computationally intensive data processing algorithms. Because RMPA employed electromagnetic waves to illuminate the shallowly buried object, a number of questions and issues arise in the decision to fund or deny funding of the reconfiguration of the RMPA technology into a nonmetallic (metallic) land mine detector.

Thirty-six element square array, with mutual coupling between crossed slots for array elements, is used as an electronically scanned tracking antenna. The system does not require the movement of the antenna or the presence of an operator.

Detail view to the east of the AntennaArray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Six AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

General view to the south of the antennaarray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Five AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

Oblique view to the northwest of the AntennaArray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Six AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

General view to the northwest of the antennaarray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Five AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

First, the motivation behind adding a passive external coupling network after antennaarrays is discussed, the concept of biomimetic antennaarrays (BMAAs) introduced and some of the previous work done in this area have been reviewed. Next, a BMAA which achieves an angular resolution of roughly 15 times its regular counterpart is introduced and fully characterized. The introduced BMAA employs transformers which considerably degrade its performance, namely its output power. To cicumvent this shortcoming a new architecture of a BMAA that does not employ transformers and therefore yields a higher output power for the same angular resolution has been subsequently presented. Moreover, a detailed noise analysis of this BMAA is carried out and the output noise of the new architecture is compared with the output noise of the original design. The modified twoelement BMAA architecture is then extended to multiple elements. A novel nonlinear optimization process is introduced that maximizes the total power captured by the BMAA for a given angular resolution and the concept illustrated for a three-element antennaarray. Next an optimum two-element BMAA which achieves the maximum possible angular resolution while obtaining the same output power level of a regular antennaarray with the same elements and spacing is introduced. A novel two-element superdirective array based on this optimum BMAA has been also discussed. The passive BMAAs discussed in this thesis have a relatively narrow bandwidth. To extend the bandwidth of BMAAs, non- Foster networks have been employed in their external coupling networks and it has been demonstrated that they can increase their bandwidth by a factor of roughly 33. Finally, the BMAA concept has been extended to nano-antennaarrays and a concept for designing sub-wavelength angle-sensing detectors at optical wavelengths has been introduced.

A multiband phased-arrayantenna (PAA) can reduce the number of antennas on shipboard platforms while offering significantly improved performance. Crystal Research, Inc., has developed a multiband photonic antenna that is based on a high-speed, optical, true-time-delay beamformer. It is capable of simultaneously steering multiple independent radio frequency (RF) beams in less than 1,000 nanoseconds. This high steering speed is 3 orders of magnitude faster than any existing optical beamformer. Unlike other approaches, this technology uses a single controlling device per operation band, eliminating the need for massive optical switches, laser diodes, and fiber Bragg gratings. More importantly, only one beamformer is needed for all antenna elements.

Systems and methods for phased arrayantennas are described. Supports for phased arrayantennas can be constructed by 3D printing. The array elements and combiner network can be constructed by conducting wire. Different parameters of the antenna, like the gain and directivity, can be controlled by selection of the appropriate design, and by electrical steering. Phased arrayantennas may be used for radio occultation measurements.

Highly sensitive terahertz heterodyne receivers have been mostly single-pixel. However, now there is a real need of multi-pixel array receivers at these frequencies driven by the science and instrument requirements. In this paper we explore various receiver font-end and antenna architectures for use in multi-pixel integrated arrays at terahertz frequencies. Development of wafer-level integrated terahertz receiver front-end by using advanced semiconductor fabrication technologies has progressed very well over the past few years. Novel stacking of micro-machined silicon wafers which allows for the 3-dimensional integration of various terahertz receiver components in extremely small packages has made it possible to design multi-pixel heterodyne arrays. One of the critical technologies to achieve fully integrated system is the antennaarrays compatible with the receiver array architecture. In this paper we explore different receiver and antenna architectures for multi-pixel heterodyne and direct detector arrays for various applications such as multi-pixel high resolution spectrometer and imaging radar at terahertz frequencies.

A compact coplanar waveguide-fed multiple-input multiple-output antennaarray based on the left-handed wire loaded spiral resonators (SR) is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a 2 × 2 wire SR with two symmetrical microstrip feed lines, each line exciting a 1 × 2 wire SR. Left-handed metamaterial unit cells are placed on its reverse side and arranged in a 2 × 3 array. A reflection coefficient of less than -16 dB and mutual coupling of less than -28 dB are achieved at 5.15 GHz WLAN band.

Layout considerations for a large deep space communications antennaarray are discussed. A fractal geometry for the antenna layout is described that provides optimal packing of antenna elements, efficient cable routing, and logical division of the array into identical sub-arrays.

equations then becomes the integro - differential equation )26()()(’)’()’( 1 ’)’()’( 0 2 02 0 2...air-dielectric interface and backed by a perfectly conducting plane. We obtained an integro - differential equation for the surface current density on...multi-element array requires that we solve a certain integro - differential equation for the surface current density on the array. This equation

In this paper, we present the design of a metamaterial-based microstrip patch antenna, optimized for bandwidth and multiple frequency operations. A criss-cross structure has been proposed, this shape has been inspired from the famous Jerusalem cross. The theory and design formulas to calculate various parameters of the proposed antenna have been presented. Design starts with the analysis of the proposed unit cell structure, and validating the response using software- HFSS Version 13, to obtain negative response of ε and μ- metamaterial. Following this, a metamaterial-based-microstrip-patch-antenna is designed. A detailed comparative study is conducted exploring the response of the designed patch made of metamaterial and that of the conventional patch. Finally, antenna parameters such as gain, bandwidth, radiation pattern, and multiple frequency responses are investigated and optimised for the same and present in table and response graphs. It is also observed that the physical dimension of the metamaterial-based patch antenna is smaller compared to its conventional counterpart operating at the same fundamental frequency. The challenging part was to develop metamaterial based on some signature structures and techniques that would offer advantage in terms of BW and multiple frequency operation, which is demonstrated in this paper. The unique shape proposed in this paper gives improvement in bandwidth without reducing the gain of the antenna.

The scope of this contract entails a configuration study for a phased array fed transmit antenna operating in the frequency band of 17.7 to 20.2 GHz. This initial contract provides a basis for understanding the design limitations and advantages of advanced phased array and cluster feeds (both utilizing intergral MMIC modules) illuminating folded reflector optics (both near field and focused types). Design parametric analyses are performed utilizing as constraints the objective secondary performance requirements of the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (Table 1.0). The output of the study provides design information which serves as a data base for future active phased array fed antenna studies such as detailed designs required to support the development of a ground tested breadboard. In general, this study is significant because it provides the antenna community with an understanding of the basic principles which govern near field phased scanned feed effects on secondary reflector system performance. Although several articles have been written on analysis procedures and results for these systems, the authors of this report have observed phenomenon of near field antenna systems not previously documented. Because the physical justification for the exhibited performance is provided herein, the findings of this study add a new dimension to the available knowledge of the subject matter.

Linear whistler modes with ω ~= 0 . 3ωce <antennas. A single antenna always produces a spatially bounded wave packet whose propagation cannot be directly compared to plane wave theories. By superimposing the fields from spatially separated antennas, the wavenumber along the antennaarray can be nearly eliminated. 2D arrays nearly produce plane waves. The angle θ of wave propagation has been varied by a phase shift along the array. The refractive index surface n (θ) has been measured. The parallel phase and group velocities for Gendrin modes has been demonstrated. The interference between two oblique plane whistlers creates a whistler ``waveguide'' mode, i.e. standing waves for k ⊥B0 and propagation for k | |B0 . It also describes the reflection of oblique whistlers from a sharp discontinuity in the refractive index or conductivity. Radial reflections are also a dominant factor in small plasma columns of helicon devices. These results are of interest to space and laboratory plasmas. Work supported by NSF/DOE.

Active phased arrayantennas with electronically scanned beams offer advantages over high gain parabolic dish antennas currently used on spacecraft. Benefits include the elimination of deployable structures, no moving parts, and no torque disturbances that moving antennas impart to the spacecraft. The latter results in the conservation of spacecraft power, and the ability to take precision optical data while transmitting data. Such an antenna has been built under a contract from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the New Millennium Program EO- 1 satellite where it will act as the primary highspeed scientific data communication link. The antenna operates at X-band, has an integral controller and power conditioner, communicates with the spacecraft over a 1773 optical data bus, and is space qualified for low earth orbit (705 Km altitude). The nominal mission length is one year, and the operational requirement is for one 10 minute transmission a day over Spitsbergen, Norway. Details of the antenna and its performance will be described in the following paper.

The feasibility of optical processor based beamforming for microwave arrayantennas is investigated. The primary focus is on systems utilizing the 20/30 GHz communications band and a transmit configuration exclusively to serve this band. A mathematical model is developed for computation of candidate design configurations. The model is capable of determination of the necessary design parameters required for spatial aspects of the microwave 'footprint' (beam) formation. Computed example beams transmitted from geosynchronous orbit are presented to demonstrate network capabilities. The effect of the processor on the output microwave signal to noise quality at the antenna interface is also considered.

The magnitude of E-field patterns generated by an annular array prototype device has been calculated and measured. Two models were used to describe the radiating sources: a simple linear dipole and a stripline antenna model. The stripline model includes detailed geometry of the actual antennas used in the prototype and an estimate of the antenna current based on microstrip transmission line theory. This more detailed model yields better agreement with the measured field patterns, reducing the rms discrepancy by a factor of about 6 (from approximately 23 to 4%) in the central region of interest where the SEM is within 25% of the maximum. We conclude that accurate modeling of source current distributions is important for determining SEM distributions associated with such heating devices.

The feasibility of obtaining large bandwidth and high directivity from a multilayer Yagi-like microstrip patch antenna at 10 GHz is investigated. A measured 10-dB bandwidth of approximately 20 percent and directivity of approximately 11 dBi is demonstrated through the implementation of a vertically-stacked structure with three parasitic directors, above the driven patch, and a single reflector underneath the driven patch. Simulated and measured results are compared and show fairly close agreement. This antenna offers the advantages of large bandwidth, high directivity, and symmetrical broadside patterns, and could be applicable to satellite as well as terrestrial communications.

A conceptual design for a microstrip phased array with monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplitude and phase controls is described. The MMIC devices used are 20 GHz variable power amplifiers and variable phase shifters recently developed by NASA contractors for applications in future Ka proposed design, which concept is for a general NxN element array of rectangular lattice geometry. Subarray excitation is incorporated in the MMIC phased array design to reduce the complexity of the beam forming network and the number of MMIC components required.

Radiofrequency (RF) coil arrays with high count of elements, e.g., closely-spaced multi-row arrays, exhibit superior parallel imaging performance in MRI. However, it is technically challenging and time-consuming to build multi-row arrays due to complex coupling issues. This paper presents a novel and simple method for closely-spaced multi-row RF array designs. Induced current elimination (ICE) decoupling method has shown the capability of reducing coupling between microstrip elements from different rows. In this study, its capability for decoupling array elements from the same row was investigated and validated by bench tests, with an isolation improvement from −8.9 dB to −20.7 dB. Based on this feature, a closely-spaced double-row microstriparray with 16 elements was built at 7T. S21 between any two elements of the 16-channel closely-spaced was better than −14 dB. In addition, its feasibility and performance was validated by MRI experiments. No significant image reconstruction- related noise amplifications were observed for parallel imaging even when reduced factor (R) achieves 4. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed design might be a simple and efficient approach in fabricating closely-spaced multi-row RF arrays. PMID:26508810

Radiofrequency (RF) coil arrays with high count of elements, e.g., closely-spaced multi-row arrays, exhibit superior parallel imaging performance in MRI. However, it is technically challenging and time-consuming to build multi-row arrays due to complex coupling issues. This paper presents a novel and simple method for closely-spaced multi-row RF array designs. Induced current elimination (ICE) decoupling method has shown the capability of reducing coupling between microstrip elements from different rows. In this study, its capability for decoupling array elements from the same row was investigated and validated by bench tests, with an isolation improvement from -8.9 dB to -20.7 dB. Based on this feature, a closely-spaced double-row microstriparray with 16 elements was built at 7T. S21 between any two elements of the 16-channel closely-spaced was better than -14 dB. In addition, its feasibility and performance was validated by MRI experiments. No significant image reconstruction- related noise amplifications were observed for parallel imaging even when reduced factor (R) achieves 4. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed design might be a simple and efficient approach in fabricating closely-spaced multi-row RF arrays.

A new concept for a gradient phase discontinuity metasurface lens integrated with a phased arrayantenna possessing a broadly steerable beam is presented in this paper. The metasurface lens is composed of a metallic H-shaped pattern and the metallic square split ring can achieve complete 360° transmission phase coverage at 30° phase intervals. The metasurface can refract an incident plane wave to an angle at will by varying the lattice constant. We demonstrate that the beam steering range of the phased arrayantenna is between 12° and 85° when the metasurface lens with a refracting electromagnetic wave is employed at 45°. Interestingly, the proposed arrayantenna has a much higher gain than a conventional phased arrayantenna at low elevation angles. It is expected that the proposed arrayantenna will have potential applications in wireless and satellite communications. Furthermore, the proposed arrayantenna is fabricated easily and is also low in cost due to its microstrip technology.

The bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti3O12) or BTO nanopowder was synthesized from the combustion method and fabricated a microstrip rectangular patch antenna (MPA). The crystal structure and lattice spacing of BTO were evaluated from XRD, TEM, and SAED analysis. The crystal structure of BTO (annealed at 900 °C) was observed to be the orthorhombic phase with fcc lattice. The microstructure of BTO nanoparticles was confirmed the spherical and hexagonal shapes, which were slightly agglomerated due to the lack of stabilizing surfactants. The presence of weak and wide bands in Raman spectrum quantified the mechanical compressions to the uniform directions of elongated lattice constants and tensions to the lattice constriction of crystalline bismuth titanate. To fabricate the MPA, pellets of BTO nanopowder were prepared by applying the uniaxial pressure in the dimension of 1.5 mm thickness and 8 mm diameter. These pellets were formed a densely packed structure close to the theoretical density. The coercivity and remanence polarization of BTO ceramics increased as the applied field increased. The inexpensive combustion synthesis method of BTO nanopowder showed the high dielectric constant (ɛ' = 450) and low dielectric loss (tan δ = 0.98), which has a potential implication of the cost-effectiveness in the field of miniaturized microelectronics. The synthesis and measurements of BTO ceramics are found to be suitable for wireless communication systems.

An optical-based RF beam steering system for phased-arrayantennas comprising a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The system is based on optical heterodyning employed to produce microwave phase shifting by a monolithic PIC constructed entirely of passive components. Microwave power and control signal distribution to the antenna is accomplished by optical fiber, permitting physical separation of the PIC and its control functions from the antenna. The system reduces size, weight, complexity, and cost of phased-arrayantenna systems.

In recent years, plasmonic nano-antennas have been used in a wide range of applications in sensing, particle detection, imaging and Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) detection. Also, arrays of nano-antennas have been recently developed to produce more directional radiation beams or to operate over a wide range of wavelengths. In this article, it is shown that small arrays of nano-antennas can be created by recycling the power that flows through their antenna gaps.

Radio-frequency (RF) transceiver array design using primary and higher order harmonics for in vivo parallel magnetic resonance imaging imaging (MRI) and spectroscopic imaging is proposed. The improved electromagnetic decoupling performance, unique magnetic field distributions and high-frequency operation capabilities of higher-order harmonics of resonators would benefit transceiver arrays for parallel MRI, especially for ultrahigh field parallel MRI. To demonstrate this technique, microstrip transceiver arrays using first and second harmonic resonators were developed for human head parallel imaging at 7T. Phantom and human head images were acquired and evaluated using the GRAPPA reconstruction algorithm. The higher-order harmonic transceiver array design technique was also assessed numerically using FDTD simulation. Compared with regular primary-resonance transceiver designs, the proposed higher-order harmonic technique provided an improved g-factor and increased decoupling among resonant elements without using dedicated decoupling circuits, which would potentially lead to a better parallel imaging performance and ultimately faster and higher quality imaging. The proposed technique is particularly suitable for densely spaced transceiver array design where the increased mutual inductance among the elements becomes problematic. In addition, it also provides a simple approach to readily upgrade the channels of a conventional primary resonator microstriparray to a larger number for faster imaging.

The Joint STARS phased array radar system is capable of performing long range airborne surveillance and was used during the Persian Gulf war on two E8-A aircraft to fly many around-the-clock missions to monitor the Kuwait and Iraq battlefield from a safe distance behind the front lines. This paper is a follow-on to previous publications on the subject of the Joint STARS antenna and deals mainly with mission performance and technical aspects not previously covered. Radar data of troop movements and armament installations will be presented, a brief review of the antenna design is given, followed by technical discussions concerning the three-port interferometry, gain and sidelobe design approach, cost control, range test implementation and future improvements.

This paper presents a simple antenna system for land vehicle communication aimed at Engineering Test Satellite-VIII (ETS-VIII) applications. The developed antenna system which designed for mounting in a vehicle is compact, light weight and offers simple satellite-tracking operation. This system uses a microstrip patch arrayantenna, which includes onboard-power divider and switching circuit for antenna feeding control, due to its low profile. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver is constructed to provide accurate information on the vehicle's position and bearing during traveling. The personal computer (PC) interfaces as the control unit and data acquisition, which were specifically designed for this application, allow the switching circuit control as well as the retrieving of the received power levels. In this research, the antenna system was firstly examined in an anechoic chamber for S parameter, axial ratio, and radiation characteristics. Satisfactory characteristics were obtained. As for beam-tracking of antenna, it was examined in the anechoic chamber with the gain above 5dBic and the axial ratio below 3dB. Moreover, good received power levels for tracking the ETS-VIII satellite in outdoor measurement, were confirmed.

JPL, in conjunction with NASA Headquarters (Code SE), is conducting a feasibility study for a Deep Space Network Array. The DSN Array will have a gain-to-noise temperature ratio (G/T) that is equivalent to ten times the G/T of the 70-m antenna subnet at approximately 8.4 GHz (X-band) by arraying a large number of small antennas. (At approximately 32 GHz (Ka-band), the G/T is four times higher!) Similarly, the DSN Array achieves the flux density of several 20-kW X-band transmitters by arraying smaller transmitters on smaller antennas. The life-cycle cost (LCC) of the DSN Array, including development, installation, and operations, will vary depending on the antenna size. This article updates prior work by Weinreb and MacNeal on optimizing the antenna size for the downlink, and adds a similar study for the uplink antennas. The basic methodology is to compute the antenna-related LCC as a function of antenna diameter and select the antenna diameters that minimize the LCC. The antenna-related LCC is approximated by the sum of the recurring engineering (RE) cost for the antenna-related components and the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for the antenna part of the DSN Array for 20 years, assuming that the RE is amortized over 20 years as well. To compute the full DSN Array LCC, one has to add the non-recurring engineering (NRE) and the non-antenna RE and O&M costs. The key result is that, for downlink, the selected antenna size is 12 m and, for uplink, the selected antenna size is around 34 m.

Very long microstriparrays have been developed at the Ku- and Ka-band frequencies. Each array having an electrical length of about 110 free-space wavelengths is used to feed a deployable thin-membrane cylindrical reflector for a spaceborne precipitation radar application. These arrays, designed for 0(deg) and 30(deg) beam directions, achieved peak sidelobes of -20 dB and average sidelobes below -30 dB with peak cross-pol levels below -20 dB. Several unique challenges were encountered during the development of these very long arrays, such as the strong coupling between very long power divider lines, the strong leakage radiation from the lengthy transmission lines, and the lack of computer analysis capability of these electrically large arrays.

This paper discusses a novel method for detecting faults in antennaarrays. The method, termed Impulse Testing, was developed for corporate-fed patch arrays where the element is fed by a probe and is shorted at its center. Impulse Testing was devised to supplement conventional microwave measurements in order to quickly verify antenna integrity. The technique relies on exciting each antenna element in turn with a fast pulse (or impulse) that propagates through the feed network to the output port of the antenna. The resulting impulse response is characteristic of the path through the feed network. Using an oscilloscope, a simple amplitude measurement can be made to detect faults. A circuit model of the antenna elements and feed network was constructed to assess various fault scenarios and determine fault-detection thresholds. The experimental setup and impulse measurements for two patch arrayantennas are presented. Advantages and limitations of the technique are discussed along with applications to other antennaarray topologies

The feasibility of using adaptive antennaarrays to provide interference protection in satellite communications was studied. The feedback loops as well as the sample matric inversion (SMI) algorithm for weight control were studied. Appropriate modifications in the two were made to achieve the required interference suppression. An experimental system was built to test the modified feedback loops and the modified SMI algorithm. The performance of the experimental system was evaluated using bench generated signals and signals received from TVRO geosynchronous satellites. A summary of results is given. Some suggestions for future work are also presented.

This article presents the development and operation of a novel electrostatic metal-to-metal contact cantilever radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF-MEMS) switch for monolithic integration with microstrip phased arrayantennas (PAAs) on a printed circuit board. The switch is fabricated using simple photolithography techniques on a Rogers 4003c substrate, with a footprint of 200 µm × 100 µm, based on a 1 µm-thick copper cantilever. An alternative wet-etching technique for effectively releasing the cantilever is described. Electrostatic and electromagnetic measurements show that the RF-MEMS presents an actuation voltage of 90 V for metal-to-metal contact, an isolation of -8.7 dB, insertion loss of -2.5 dB and a return loss of -15 dB on a 50 Ω microstrip line at 12.5 GHz. For proof-of-concept, a beam-steering 2 × 2 microstrip PAA, based on two 1-bit phase shifters suitable for the monolithic integration of the RF-MEMS, has been designed and measured at 12.5 GHz. Measurements show that the beam-steering system presents effective radiation characteristics with scanning capabilities from broadside towards 29° in the H-plane.

In smart antenna system, it is extremely crucial to estimate the direction of incoming signals in order to achieve better reception. Reliability of DOA estimation depends on several factors such as the choice of DOA algorithm, size of antennaarray as well as array geometry. Therefore, it is particularly desirable to have a configuration of antennaarray that could produce an accurate azimuth estimation. In this work, a new planar array is proposed to address the problem of azimuth estimation. This is achieved by having a flexible element position on the x- y plane that improves the steering vector, hence significantly enhances the accuracy of DOA estimation. Besides, a fair distribution of the antenna elements on the x-y plane also helps to eliminates estimation failure in the azimuth range between 240° and 360°. A comparison study between the proposed array and V-shape array is performed in order to gauge the performance of the proposed array in DOA estimation. Simulation results show that the proposed array has acquired better estimation resolution than V-shape array. On top of that, the proposed array has reduced estimation error in V-shape array. It is concluded that the proposed array has shown potential as an excellent choice of antennaarray geometry for smart antenna system.

The development of an S-band antenna phased array for spacecraft to spacecraft communication is discussed. The system requirements, antennaarray subsystem design, and hardware implementation are examined. It is stated that the phased array approach offers the greatest simplicity and lowest cost. The objectives of the development contract are defined as: (1) design of a medium gain active phased array S-band communications antenna, (2) development and test of a model of a seven element planar array of radiating elements mounted in the appropriate cavity matrix, and (3) development and test of a breadboard transmit/receive microelectronics module.

Successful fabrication of bismuth bolometers led to the observation of antenna action rom array elements. Fabrication of the best antennasarrays was made more facile with finding that increased argon flow during the dc sputtering produced more uniform bismuth films and bonding to antennas must be done with the substrate temperaure below 100 C. Higher temperatures damaged the bolometers. During the testing of the antennas, it was found that the use of a quasi-optical system provided a uniform radiation field. Groups of antennas were bonded in series and in parallel with the parallel configuration showing the greater response.

A small, segmented microstrip patch antenna integrated with an X-band feedback oscillator on a high-permittivity substrate has been built and tested. This oscillator antenna is a prototype for demonstrating the feasibility of such devices as compact, low-power-consumption building blocks of advanced, lightweight, phased antennaarrays that would generate steerable beams for communication and remotesensing applications.

A new hybrid method is presented for the analysis of the scattering and radiation by conformal antennas and arrays comprised of circular or rectangular elements. In addition, calculations for cavity-backed spiral antennas are given. The method employs a finite element formulation within the cavity and the boundary integral (exact boundary condition) for terminating the mesh. By virtue of the finite element discretization, the method has no restrictions on the geometry and composition of the cavity or its termination. Furthermore, because of the convolutional nature of the boundary integral and the inherent sparseness of the finite element matrix, the storage requirement is kept very low at O(n). These unique features of the method have already been exploited in other scattering applications and have permitted the analysis of large-size structures with remarkable efficiency. In this report, we describe the method's formulation and implementation for circular and rectangular patch antennas in different superstrate and substrate configurations which may also include the presence of lumped loads and resistive sheets/cards. Also, various modelling approaches are investigated and implemented for characterizing a variety of feed structures to permit the computation of the input impedance and radiation pattern. Many computational examples for rectangular and circular patch configurations are presented which demonstrate the method's versatility, modeling capability and accuracy.

5 5 silicon microlens array was developed using a silicon micromachining technique for a silicon-based THz antennaarray. The feature of the silicon micromachining technique enables one to microfabricate an unlimited number of microlens arrays at one time with good uniformity on a silicon wafer. This technique will resolve one of the key issues in building a THz camera, which is to integrate antennas in a detector array. The conventional approach of building single-pixel receivers and stacking them to form a multi-pixel receiver is not suited at THz because a single-pixel receiver already has difficulty fitting into mass, volume, and power budgets, especially in space applications. In this proposed technique, one has controllability on both diameter and curvature of a silicon microlens. First of all, the diameter of microlens depends on how thick photoresist one could coat and pattern. So far, the diameter of a 6- mm photoresist microlens with 400 m in height has been successfully microfabricated. Based on current researchers experiences, a diameter larger than 1-cm photoresist microlens array would be feasible. In order to control the curvature of the microlens, the following process variables could be used: 1. Amount of photoresist: It determines the curvature of the photoresist microlens. Since the photoresist lens is transferred onto the silicon substrate, it will directly control the curvature of the silicon microlens. 2. Etching selectivity between photoresist and silicon: The photoresist microlens is formed by thermal reflow. In order to transfer the exact photoresist curvature onto silicon, there needs to be etching selectivity of 1:1 between silicon and photoresist. However, by varying the etching selectivity, one could control the curvature of the silicon microlens. The figure shows the microfabricated silicon microlens 5 x5 array. The diameter of the microlens located in the center is about 2.5 mm. The measured 3-D profile of the microlens surface has a

dielectric substrate in a configuration similar to a classical Yagi-Uda array; although, in the microstrip topology the Yagi effect is used to direct the...of Stripline-Fed Tapered Slot 171 Antennas on Dielectric Substrates," by D. H. Schaubert 14. "A New Waveguide-to- Microstrip Transition," by N...Studies of Microstrip Reflect- 243 arrays Used for Mobile and Satellite Communications," by J. Litva, Y. Zhuang and C. Wu 19. "A Study of the

View to the southwest of the antennaarray, note the site fence in the foreground - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Four AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

Educational activities involving antennaarrays to motivate the study of sinusoids are described. Specifically, using fundamental concepts related to phase and simple geometric arguments, students are asked to predict the location of interference nulls in the radiation pattern of two-element phased arrayantennas. The location of the radiation…

In this paper, microstrip patch antenna with frequency selective surface (FSS) and photonic band gap (PBG) structures in the frequency range of 0.5-0.7 THz is presented for wireless communications. Proposed patch antenna is designed on a substrate with uniform and non-uniform PBG structures. Here, the effects of substrate thickness, various radii and arrangement of holes on antenna resonance in both PBG forms are studied. Near zero characteristic on uniform and non-uniform PBG substrate is compared and the results show that along with increase in hole radius, antenna operating frequency and bandwidth are increased. Also, the FSS structure is designed as a perfect absorber. Finally, by using FSS and PBG structures simultaneously, gain enhancement, increase in directivity and pattern shaping are studied at THz field. The antenna gain in final structure is increased by 2 dBi (32%) in comparison to simple form and Half-Power beam width is reduced from 100°×80° in simple form to 72°×48° by using FSS and PBG. All simulations and designs are done by Ansoft HFSS and CST Microwave Studio simulation tools with different full wave methods.

All high power ICRF heating systems include devices for matching the input impedance of the antennaarray to the generator output impedance. For most types of antennas used, the input impedance is strongly time-dependent on timescales as rapid as 10-4 s, while the rf generators used are capable of producing full power only into a stationary load impedance. Hence, the dynamic response of the matching method is of great practical importance. In this paper, world-wide developments in this field over the past decade are reviewed. These techniques may be divided into several classes. The edge plasma parameters that determine the antennaarray`s input impedance may be controlled to maintain a fixed load impedance. The frequency of the rf source can be feedback controlled to compensate for changes in the edge plasma conditions, or fast variable tuning elements in the transmission line between the generator output and the antenna input connections can provide the necessary time-varying impedance transformation. In lossy passive schemes, reflected power due to the time-varying impedance of the antennaarray is diverted to a dummy load. Each of these techniques can be applied to a pre-existing antenna system. If a new antenna is to be designed, recent advances allow the antennaarray to have the intrinsic property of presenting a constant load to the feeding transmission lines despite the varying load seen by each antenna in the array.

The performance requirements of the Inmarsat-3 communication satellites regarding the L-band spot coverages can be met optimally with a directly radiating phased arrayantenna. A novel approach to the synthesis of patterns for planar arrays is used to provide contoured beams which match the required spot coverage areas. The variation in gain over each spot beam coverage area is less than the allowed 5 dB. The required isolation of at least 18 dB regarding unwanted radiation on other coverage areas or land masses can be satisfied. The results are presented in graphical form as contour plots of the beam shapes for various coverage areas. Also shown contour plots of the aperture distribution over the planar array in magnitude and phase. The directivity for the various spot beams is calculated for an array of circular horn antennas as well as circular microstrip patches as radiating elements. Thereby, the array size is kept constant while the number of elements and their spacing is changed.

In the last decade, artificial neural networks have become very popular techniques for computing different performance parameters of microstripantennas. The proposed work illustrates a knowledge-based neural networks model for predicting the appropriate shape and accurate size of the slot introduced on the radiating patch for achieving desired level of resonance, gain, directivity, antenna efficiency, and radiation efficiency for dual-frequency operation. By incorporating prior knowledge in neural model, the number of required training patterns is drastically reduced. Further, the neural model incorporated with prior knowledge can be used for predicting response in extrapolation region beyond the training patterns region. For validation, a prototype is also fabricated and its performance parameters are measured. A very good agreement is attained between measured, simulated, and predicted results. PMID:27382616

This paper presents a new technique to calibrate a microwave radiometer and phased arrayantenna system. This calibration technique uses a radiated noise source in addition to an injected noise sources for calibration. The plane of reference for this calibration technique is the face of the antenna and therefore can effectively calibration the gain fluctuations in the active phased arrayantennas. This paper gives the mathematical formulation for the technique and discusses the improvements brought by the method over the existing calibration techniques.

Antennas separated by long distances have large delays and delay rates among them. If wide-bandwidth signals are received, frequency domain beamformers based on filter banks can be used to carry out signal combination. A new scheme based on subband delay compensation is proposed in this article. The main advantages of this scheme are the wider field of view of the array, the reduction of distortion in the transfer function, and the simplification of communications among sites. In order to perform coherent combination, the delay and delay rates need to be estimated. In order to do so, an algorithm is devised to estimate the differential phase, delay, and delay rate between two antennas based on the subband signals. This algorithm is first developed for a stationary case, in which the delay rate is zero. The product of subband signals is averaged and an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) is carried out to yield an estimate of the cross-correlation. For the nonstationary case, first the delay rate is calculated by means of a two-dimensional IDFT, and from that point a function similar to the one in the stationary case is obtained so as to compute the delay and phase offset.

Surface plasmon polaritons are electromagnetic waves that propagate tightly bound to metal surfaces. The concentration of the electromagnetic field at the surface as well as the short wavelength of surface plasmons enable sensitive detection methods and miniaturization of optics. We present an optical frequency plasmonic analog to the phased antennaarray as it is well known in radar technology and radio astronomy. Individual holes in a thick gold film act as dipolar emitters of surface plasmon polaritons whose phase is controlled individually using a digital spatial light modulator. We show experimentally, using a phase sensitive near-field microscope, that this optical system allows accurate directional emission of surface waves. This compact and flexible method allows for dynamically shaping the propagation of plasmons and holds promise for nanophotonic applications employing propagating surface plasmons.

Surface plasmon polaritons are electromagnetic waves that propagate tightly bound to metal surfaces. The concentration of the electromagnetic field at the surface as well as the short wavelength of surface plasmons enable sensitive detection methods and miniaturization of optics. We present an optical frequency plasmonic analog to the phased antennaarray as it is well known in radar technology and radio astronomy. Individual holes in a thick gold film act as dipolar emitters of surface plasmon polaritons whose phase is controlled individually using a digital spatial light modulator. We show experimentally, using a phase sensitive near-field microscope, that this optical system allows accurate directional emission of surface waves. This compact and flexible method allows for dynamically shaping the propagation of plasmons and holds promise for nanophotonic applications employing propagating surface plasmons. PMID:27121099

ESSA (Electronic Switching Spherical Array) is an antenna system conceived, developed and qualified for linking satellite data transmissions with NASA's tracking and data relay satellites (TDRSS) and tracking and data acquisition satellites (TDAS). ESSA functions in the S band frequency region, cover 2 pi or more steradians with directional gain and operates in multiple selectable modes. ESSA operates in concert with the NASA's TDRS standard transponder in the retrodirective mode or independently in directional beam, program track and special modes. Organizations and projects to the ESSA applications for NASA's space use are introduced. Coverage gain, weight power and implementation and other performance information for satisfying a wide range of data rate requirements are included.

We report on experimental observations of highly collimated beams of radiation generated when a periodic sub-wavelength grating interacts with surface bound plasmon-polariton modes of a thin gold film. We find that the radiation process can be fully described in terms of interference of emission from a dipole antennaarray and modeling the structure in this way enables the far-field radiation pattern to be predicted. The directionality, multiplicity and divergence of the beams can be completely described within this framework. Essential to the process are the surface plasmon excitations: these are the driving mechanism behind the beam formation, phase-coupling radiation from the periodic surface structure and thus imposing a spatial coherence. Detailed fitting of the experimental and modeled data indicates the presence of scattering events involving the interaction of two surface plasmon polariton modes.

The design and performance of satellite phased-array systems are examined by considering several specific antennas built for spacecraft use. Particular consideration is given to: (1) the JARED (Jammer Reduction Antenna System) antenna, and adaptive phased array which can be used to null jammer signals while providing coverage to specific user areas; (2) the algorithm used in the JARED antenna; and (3) a technique that can be used to detect and locate jammers. The antennas used by the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) are then described. A significant aspect of the TDRSS is the multiple access antenna which is a 30-element phased array, providing a single steered beam on transmit and the ability to receive data from 20 simultaneous users. Also included on the TDRSS is a mesh deployable reflector and a C-band and K-band communications system.

NASAs future exploration missions focus on the manned exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond, which will rely heavily on the development of a reliable communications infrastructure from planetary surface-to-surface, surface-to-orbit, and back to Earth. Flexible antennas are highly desired in many scenarios. Active phased arrayantennas (active PAAs) with distributed control and processing electronics at the surface of an antenna aperture offer numerous advantages for radar communications. Large-area active PAAs on flexible substrates are of particular interest in NASA s space radars due to their efficient inflatable package that can be rolled up during transportation and deployed in space. Such an inflatable package significantly reduces stowage volume and mass. Because of these performance and packaging advantages, large-area inflatable active PAAs are highly desired in NASA s surface-to-orbit and surface-to-relay communications. To address the issues of flexible electronics, a room-temperature printing process of active phased-arrayantennas on a flexible Kapton substrate was developed. Field effect transistors (FETs) based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with many unique physical properties, were successfully proved feasible for the PAA system. This innovation is a new type of fully inkjet-printable, two-dimensional, high-frequency PAA on a flexible substrate at room temperature. The designed electronic circuit components, such as the FET switches in the phase shifter, metal interconnection lines, microstrip transmission lines, etc., are all printed using a special inkjet printer. Using the developed technology, entire 1x4, 2x2, and 4x4 PAA systems were developed, packaged, and demonstrated at 5.3 GHz. Several key solutions are addressed in this work to solve the fabrication issues. The source/drain contact is developed using droplets of silver ink printed on the source/drain areas prior to applying CNT thin-film. The wet silver ink droplets allow the silver to

All high-power ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating systems include devices for matching the input impedance of the antennaarray to the generator output impedance. For most types of antennas used, the input impedance is strongly time dependent on timescales as rapid as 10-4 s, while the radio frequency (RF) generators used are capable of producing full power only into a stationary load impedance. Hence, the dynamic response of the matching method is of great practical importance. In this paper, world-wide developments in this field over the past decade are reviewed. These techniques may be divided into several classes. The edge plasma parameters that determine the antennaarray's input impedance may be controlled to maintain a fixed load impedance. The frequency of the RF source can be feedback controlled to compensate for changes in the edge plasma conditions, or fast variable tuning elements in the transmission line between the generator output and the antenna input connections can provide the necessary time-varying impedance transformation. In `lossy passive schemes', reflected power due to the time-varying impedance of the antennaarray is diverted to a dummy load. Each of these techniques can be applied to a pre-existing antenna system. If a new antenna is to be designed, recent advances allow the antennaarray to have the intrinsic property of presenting a constant load to the feeding transmission lines despite the varying load seen by each antenna in the array.

An architecture for arraying microwave antennas in the next generation of NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) involves the use of all photonic links between (1) the antennas in a given array and (2) a signal processing center. In this architecture, all affected parts at each antenna pedestal [except a front-end low-noise amplifier for the radio-frequency (RF) signal coming from the antenna and an optical transceiver to handle monitor and control (M/C) signals] would be passive optical parts

The goal of the Integrated Solar-Panel AntennaArray for CubeSats (ISAAC) project is to design and demonstrate an effective and efficien toptically transparent, high-gain, lightweight, conformal X-band antennaarray that is integrated with the solar panels of a CubeSat. The targeted demonstration is for a Near Earth Network (NEN)radio at X-band, but the design can be easilyscaled to other network radios for higher frequencies. ISAAC is a less expensive and more flexible design for communication systemscompared to a deployed dish antenna or the existing integrated solar panel antenna design.

When two separate antennas are used with each feedback loop to decorrelate noise, the antennas should be located such that the phase of the interfering signal in the two antennas is the same while the noise in them is uncorrelated. Thus, the antenna patterns and spatial distribution of the auxiliary antennas are quite important and should be carefully selected. The selection and spatial distribution of auxiliary elements is discussed when the main antenna is a center fed reflector antenna. It is shown that offset feeds of the reflector antenna can be used as auxiliary elements of an adaptive array to suppress weak interfering signals. An experimental system is designed to verify the theoretical analysis. The details of the experimental systems are presented.

This paper presents a design and simulation of a reconfigurable array of plasma antenna. The plasma column is used as radiating elements instead of metal to create an antenna. The advantages of the plasma antenna over the conventional antenna are its possible to change the operating parameters, such as the working pressure, input power, radius of the discharge tube, resonant frequency, and length of the plasma column. In addition, plasma antenna can be reconfigurable with respect to shape, frequency and radiation parameters in a very short time. The plasma discharge tube was designed with a length of 200 mm, the radius of the plasma column was 2.5 mm and the coupling sleeve was connected to the SMA as the ground. This simulation was performed by using the simulation software Computer Simulation Technology (CST). The frequency is set in the range of 1 GHz to 10 GHz. The performance of the designed antenna was analyzed in term of return loss, gain and radiation pattern. For reconfigurable plasma antennaarray, it shows that the gain is increase when the number of antenna element is increase. The combination of the discharge tube and metal rod as an antennaarray has been done, and the result shows that an array with the plasma element can achieve higher gain.

A class of feed antennas and feed antennaarrays used in the focal plane of paraboloid reflectors and exhibiting higher than normal levels of cross-polarized radiation in the diagonal planes is addressed. A model which allows prediction of element gain and aperture efficiency of the feed/reflector system is presented. The predictions are in good agreement with experimental results. Tapered slot antenna (TSA) elements are used an example of an element of this type. It is shown that TSA arrays used in multibeam systems with small beam spacings are competitive in terms of aperture efficiency with other, more standard types of arrays incorporating waveguide type elements.

An optical phased array formed of a large number of nanophotonic antenna elements can be used to project complex images into the far field. These nanophotonic phased arrays, including the nanophotonic antenna elements and waveguides, can be formed on a single chip of silicon using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Directional couplers evanescently couple light from the waveguides to the nanophotonic antenna elements, which emit the light as beams with phases and amplitudes selected so that the emitted beams interfere in the far field to produce the desired pattern. In some cases, each antenna in the phased array may be optically coupled to a corresponding variable delay line, such as a thermo-optically tuned waveguide or a liquid-filled cell, which can be used to vary the phase of the antenna's output (and the resulting far-field interference pattern).

The design of an adaptive arrayantenna for land vehicle operation and its performance in an operational satellite system is described. Linear and circularly polarized antenna designs are presented. The acquisition and tracking operation of a satellite is described and the effect on the communications signal is discussed. A number of system requirements are examined that have a major impact on the antenna design. The results of environmental, power handling, and RFI testing are presented and potential problems are identified.

A reproducible, high-performance patch antennaarray apparatus includes a patch antennaarray provided on a unitary dielectric substrate, and a feed network provided on the same unitary substrate and proximity coupled to the patch antennaarray. The reproducibility is enhanced by using photolithographic patterning and etching to produce both the patch antennaarray and the feed network.

The Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) mission will demonstrate a reflectarray antenna that increases downlink data rates for Cube- Sats from the existing baseline rate of 9.6 kilobits per second (kbps) to more than 100 megabits per second (Mbps). The ISARA spacecraft is slated for launch no earlier than Dec. 1, 2015.

The total noise of a phased-arrayantenna system employing a photonic feed network is analyzed using a model for the individual component noise including both additive and multiplicative equivalent noise generators.

Flower pollination algorithm (FPA) is a new nature-inspired evolutionary algorithm used to solve multi-objective optimization problems. The aim of this paper is to introduce FPA to the electromagnetics and antenna community for the optimization of linear antennaarrays. FPA is applied for the first time to linear array so as to obtain optimized antenna positions in order to achieve an array pattern with minimum side lobe level along with placement of deep nulls in desired directions. Various design examples are presented that illustrate the use of FPA for linear antennaarray optimization, and subsequently the results are validated by benchmarking along with results obtained using other state-of-the-art, nature-inspired evolutionary algorithms such as particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization and cat swarm optimization. The results suggest that in most cases, FPA outperforms the other evolutionary algorithms and at times it yields a similar performance.

We present an evolved S-band phased arrayantenna element design that meets the requirements of NASA's TDRS-C communications satellite scheduled for launch early next decade. The original specification called for two types of elements, one for receive only and one for transmit/receive. We were able to evolve a single element design that meets both specifications thereby simplifying the antenna and reducing testing and integration costs. The highest performance antenna found using a genetic algorithm and stochastic hill-climbing has been fabricated and tested. Laboratory results are largely consistent with simulation. Researchers have been investigating evolutionary antenna design and optimization since the early 1990s, and the field has grown in recent years its computer speed has increased and electromagnetic simulators have improved. Many antenna types have been investigated, including wire antennas, antennaarrays and quadrifilar helical antennas. In particular, our laboratory evolved a wire antenna design for NASA's Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft. This antenna has been fabricated, tested, and is scheduled for launch on the three spacecraft in 2006.

The need for high frequency antennas is rapidly increasing with the development of new wireless rate communication technology. Planar antennas have an attractive form factor, but they require a distribution network. Microstrip technology is most commonly used at low frequency but suffers from large dielectric and ohmic losses at higher frequencies and particularly above 100 GHz. Substrate-integrated waveguides also suffer from dielectric losses. In addition, standard rectangular waveguide interfaces are inconvenient due to the four flange screws that must be tightly fastened to the antenna to avoid leakage. The current paper presents a planar slot arrayantenna that does not suffer from any of these problems. The distribution network is realized by micromachining using low-loss gap waveguide technology, and it can be connected to a standard rectangular waveguide flange without using any screws or additional packaging. To realize the antenna at these frequencies, it was fabricated with micromachining, which offers the required high precision, and a low-cost fabrication method. The antenna was micromachined with DRIE in two parts, one silicon-on-insulator plate and one Si plate, which were both covered with Au to achieve conductivity. The input reflection coefficient was measured to be below 10 dB over a 15.5% bandwidth, and the antenna gain was measured to be 10.4 dBi, both of which are in agreement with simulations.

The Mobile Satellite Experiment (MSAT-X) breadboard antenna design demonstrates the feasibility of using a phased array in a mobile satellite application. An electronically steerable phased array capable of tracking geosynchronous satellites from anywhere in the Continental United States has been developed. The design is reviewed along with the test data. Cost analysis are presented which indicate that this design can be produced at a cost of $1620 per antenna.

Highly efficient, low cost, easily manufactured SAR antennaarrays with lightweight low profiles, large instantaneous bandwidths and low SLL are disclosed. The array topology provides all necessary circuitry within the available antenna aperture space and between the layers of material that comprise the aperture. Bandwidths of 15.2 GHz to 18.2 GHz, with 30 dB SLLs azimuthally and elevationally, and radiation efficiencies above 40% may be achieved. Operation over much larger bandwidths is possible as well.

Fixed-formation microsatellites have been proposed for future NASA missions to lower costs and improve data collection and reliability. Achieving seamless connectivity communications between these satellites requires the use of multibeam arrayantennas. As a result of NASA Glenn Research Center s collaborative efforts with the University of Colorado and Texas A&M University, two prototype multibeam arrayantennas have been developed and demonstrated at Ka-band frequencies. These arrays are designed to be dual-beam, dual-frequency arrays, with two fixed scan beams at around +/- 30 . They can be used in both ground and space systems for transmit and receive functions.

A solution is presented to the problem of an infinite array of microstrip patches fed by idealized current probes. The input reflection coefficient is calculated versus scan angle in an arbitrary scan plane, and the effects of substrate parameters and grid spacing are considered. It is pointed out that even when a Galerkin method is used the impedance matrix is not symmetric due to phasing through a unit cell, as required for scanning. The mechanism by which scan blindness can occur is discussed. Measurement results are presented for the reflection coefficient magnitude variation with angle for E-plane, H-plane, and D-plane scans, for various substrate parameters. Measured results from waveguide simulators are also presented, and the scan blindness phenomenon is observed and discussed in terms of forced surface waves and a modified grating lobe diagram.

The history of synthesis techniques for designing linear antennaarrays with low sidelobe patterns is reviewed briefly, and the limitations that are encountered with very low sidelobes and/or small arrays are pointed out. Taylor's continuous aperture synthesis procedure is outlined, and a technique for transforming it for application to a discrete array is described. Discrete-array design equation for Taylor and Bayliss synthesis procedures are given. A set of programs for use on a programmable calculator are presented.

We report on the development of antenna-coupled Voltage-biased Superconducting Bolometers (VSBs) which use Transition-edge Sensors (TES). Antenna coupling can greatly simplify the fabrication of large multi-frequency bolometer arrays compared to horn-coupled techniques. This simplification can make it practical to implement 1000+ element arrays that fill the focal plane of mm/sub-mm wave telescopes. We have designed a prototype device with a double-slot dipole antenna, integrated band-defining filters, and a membrane-suspended bolometer. A test chip has been constructed and will be tested shortly.

The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) quasi-end-fire arrayantenna based on a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate is designed and fabricated in this paper. The maximum radiation direction of the antenna tends to the cone axis forming an angle less than 90∘, which satisfies the proximity detection system applied at the forward target detection. Furthermore, the proposed antenna is fed at the ended side in order to save internal space. Moreover, the proposed antenna takes small covering area of the proximity detection system. The proposed antenna is fabricated by using the flexible MEMS process, and the measurement results agree well with the simulation results. This is the first time that a conical conformal arrayantenna is fabricated by the flexible MEMS process to realize the quasi-end-fire radiation. A pair of conformal MEMS arrayantennas resonates at 14.2 GHz with its mainlobes tending to the cone axis forming a 30∘ angle and a 31∘ angle separately, and the gains achieved are 1.82 dB in two directions, respectively. The proposed antenna meets the performance requirements for the proximity detection system which has vast application prospects.

Highly sensitive receivers are used to detect minute amounts of emitted electromagnetic energy. Calibration of these receivers is vital to the accuracy of the measurements. Traditional calibration techniques depend on calibration reference internal to the receivers as reference for the calibration of the observed electromagnetic energy. Such methods can only calibrate errors in measurement introduced by the receiver only. The disadvantage of these existing methods is that they cannot account for errors introduced by devices, such as antennas, used for capturing electromagnetic radiation. This severely limits the types of antennas that can be used to make measurements with a high degree of accuracy. Complex antenna systems, such as electronically steerable antennas (also known as phased arrays), while offering potentially significant advantages, suffer from a lack of a reliable and accurate calibration technique. The proximity of antenna elements in an array results in interaction between the electromagnetic fields radiated (or received) by the individual elements. This phenomenon is called mutual coupling. The new calibration method uses a known noise source as a calibration load to determine the instantaneous characteristics of the antenna. The noise source is emitted from one element of the antennaarray and received by all the other elements due to mutual coupling. This received noise is used as a calibration standard to monitor the stability of the antenna electronics.

Passive Coherent Localisation (PCL), also known as Passive Radar, making use of RF sources of opportunity such as Radio or TV Broadcasting Stations, Cellular Phone Network Base Stations, etc. is an advancing technology for covert operation because no active radar transmitter is required. It is also an attractive addition to existing active radar stations because it has the potential to discover low-flying and low-observable targets. The CORA (Covert Radar) experimental passive radar system currently developed at Fraunhofer-FHR features a multi-channel digital radar receiver and a circular antennaarray with separate elements for the VHF- and the UHF-range and is used to exploit alternatively Digital Audio (DAB) or Video Broadcasting (DVB-T) signals. For an extension of the system, a wideband antennaarray is being designed for which a new discone antenna element has been developed covering the full DVB-T frequency range. The present paper describes the outline of the system and the numerical modelling and optimisation methods applied to solve the complex task of antennaarray design: Electromagnetic full wave analysis is required for the parametric design of the antenna elements while combinatorial optimization methods are applied to find the best array positions and excitation coefficients for a regular omni-directional antenna performance. The different steps are combined in an iterative loop until the optimum array layout is found. Simulation and experimental results for the current system will be shown.

Large-aperture phased-array microwave antennas supported by membranes are being developed for use in spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar systems. There may also be terrestrial uses for such antennas supported on stationary membranes, large balloons, and blimps. These antennas are expected to have areal mass densities of about 2 kg/sq m, satisfying a need for lightweight alternatives to conventional rigid phased-arrayantennas, which have typical areal mass densities between 8 and 15 kg/sq m. The differences in areal mass densities translate to substantial differences in total mass in contemplated applications involving aperture areas as large as 400 sq m. A membrane phased-arrayantenna includes patch antenna elements in a repeating pattern. All previously reported membrane antennas were passive antennas; this is the first active membrane antenna that includes transmitting/receiving (T/R) electronic circuits as integral parts. Other integral parts of the antenna include a network of radio-frequency (RF) feed lines (more specifically, a corporate feed network) and of bias and control lines, all in the form of flexible copper strip conductors on flexible polymeric membranes. Each unit cell of a prototype antenna (see Figure 1) contains a patch antenna element and a compact T/R module that is compatible with flexible membrane circuitry. There are two membrane layers separated by a 12.7-mm air gap. Each membrane layer is made from a commercially available flexible circuit material that, as supplied, comprises a 127-micron-thick polyimide dielectric layer clad on both sides with 17.5-micron-thick copper layers. The copper layers are patterned into RF, bias, and control conductors. The T/R module is located on the back side of the ground plane and is RF-coupled to the patch element via a slot. The T/R module is a hybrid multilayer module assembled and packaged independently and attached to the membrane array. At the time of reporting the information for

elements on its surface, and a superstrate on top of the elements. The dielectric constant of the substrate is increased so that the size of the... superstrate , the mutual coupling between the antenna elements is minimized and the reduced antenna spacing is scaled so that it appears to be effectively λ/2

As increased bandwidth demands continue to rise and overly crowded existing bands need be relieved, the study of frequency tunable and higher frequency arrayantennas is needed. By tuning the resonant frequency of an antenna, the bandwidth increases since the operating frequency has increased from the tuning. Also, higher frequency antenna designs are beginning to take flight to alleviate the lower bands and allow for an increase in bandwidth. Both the methods can bring a solution to the increased bandwidth demand. Thesis work begins with the design of a novel single feed planar antenna with 4G tunable bands and consistent upper LTE bands. This antenna is simulated using full wave analysis tool, fabricated and measured. This antenna shows near omni-directional radiation pattern exhibiting gain levels from -4.25dBi in the lower band to 2.69dBi in the upper band. The impedance matching for the lower band can be tuned from 690 MHz - 970 MHz while the higher band is consistently present between 1.29 GHz - 2.05 GHz, both based on S 11 ≤ - 6dBi. To begin the stepping stone for higher frequency planar arrayantenna designs, first an 8x8 arrayantenna is designed in the Ka band. The impedance matching for this design is measured 28.34 GHz - 32.09 GHz having fractional bandwidth of 12.41% based on S11 ? - 10dB. This arrayantenna was fabricated and experimentally verified for its impedance matching and radiation performances. Next, a 4x4 antennaarray is designed for operation in the 5G wireless band and using 0.07mm quartz material. The design has matching band from 53.6 GHz - 54.0 GHz having fractional bandwidth of 0.7435% based on S 11 ≤ -10dB. Finally, a 2x2 arrayantenna having a center frequency of 300 GHz with fractional bandwidth of 11.2% based on S11 ≤ -10dB is designed. This 2x2 arrayantenna was also designed using 0.07mm thick quartz substrate material so as to fabricate using the photolithography method due to the limitations of the standard method of

A free-space microwave system developed for the measurement of the relative complex permittivity of granular materials and of pulverized materials was reported. The system consists of a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna separated by a space filled by the sample to be characterized and a network analyzer for transmission measurement. The receiving antenna was mounted on a movable plate, which gives the flexibility of having different sample thicknesses.

Spacecraft array fed reflector antenna systems were assessed for particular application to a multiple fixed spot beam/multiple scanning spot beam system. Reflector optics systems are reviewed in addition to an investigation of the feasibility of the use of monolithic microwave integrated circuit power amplifiers and phase shifters in each element of the array feed.

Resonant edge-slot (slotted-waveguide) arrayantennas can now be designed very accurately following a modern computational approach like that followed for some other microwave components. This modern approach makes it possible to design superior antennas at lower cost than was previously possible. Heretofore, the physical and engineering knowledge of resonant edge-slot arrayantennas had remained immature since they were introduced during World War II. This is because despite their mechanical simplicity, high reliability, and potential for operation with high efficiency, the electromagnetic behavior of resonant edge-slot antennas is very complex. Because engineering design formulas and curves for such antennas are not available in the open literature, designers have been forced to implement iterative processes of fabricating and testing multiple prototypes to derive design databases, each unique for a specific combination of operating frequency and set of waveguide tube dimensions. The expensive, time-consuming nature of these processes has inhibited the use of resonant edge-slot antennas. The present modern approach reduces costs by making it unnecessary to build and test multiple prototypes. As an additional benefit, this approach affords a capability to design an array of slots having different dimensions to taper the antenna illumination to reduce the amplitudes of unwanted side lobes. The heart of the modern approach is the use of the latest commercially available microwave-design software, which implements finite-element models of electromagnetic fields in and around waveguides, antenna elements, and similar components. Instead of building and testing prototypes, one builds a database and constructs design curves from the results of computational simulations for sets of design parameters. The figure shows a resonant edge-slot antenna designed following this approach. Intended for use as part of a radiometer operating at a frequency of 10.7 GHz, this antenna

A novel magneto-electro-dielectric waveguided metamaterial (MED-WG-MTM) is proposed consisting of electric complementary spiral ring resonators and magnetic embedded Wunderlich line. Based on the control of effective medium parameters, the working mechanism of miniaturization, wide bandwidth, and also dual-band approach by loading MED-WG-MTM cells are investigated in depth. For experimental demonstration, two types of antennas are designed, fabricated, and measured following the established design procedures. For the former, the antenna with MED-WG-MTM loading realizes a miniaturization of 42.53 % and also 10 dB impedance bandwidth of about 3.71 times compared with the conventional antenna. In the latter case, dual-band antenna is researched. The prototype features compact occupying an area of only 0.20λ 0 × 0.20λ 0 and shows desirable similar radiation patterns. Moreover, both antennas are free of metallic via holes and practical for wireless communication system.

A novel magneto-electro-dielectric waveguided metamaterial (MED-WG-MTM) is proposed consisting of electric complementary spiral ring resonators and magnetic embedded Wunderlich line. Based on the control of effective medium parameters, the working mechanism of miniaturization, wide bandwidth, and also dual-band approach by loading MED-WG-MTM cells are investigated in depth. For experimental demonstration, two types of antennas are designed, fabricated, and measured following the established design procedures. For the former, the antenna with MED-WG-MTM loading realizes a miniaturization of 42.53 % and also 10 dB impedance bandwidth of about 3.71 times compared with the conventional antenna. In the latter case, dual-band antenna is researched. The prototype features compact occupying an area of only 0.20 λ 0 × 0.20 λ 0 and shows desirable similar radiation patterns. Moreover, both antennas are free of metallic via holes and practical for wireless communication system.

A multimode waveguide can be employed to design an antenna which produces a beam for each propagating mode. A dual-beam waveguide slot array is particularly attractive. The antenna is compact, highly efficient, and has lower sidelobe-level performance than can be achieved with conventional monopulse techniques. Adaptive phase steering for jammer nulling is considered, taking into account a large phased array using a series feed system. The considered configuration was selected for computer simulation. A description is presented of a multiple beam antenna with independent steerable nulls. The multiple beam low-sidelobe antenna configuration has the ability to provide a radiation pattern with multiple and independently-located nulls, with minimal effect on the sidelobes of the unperturbed pattern.

Some applications as Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) require compact and directive antennas. However, Electrically Small Antennas (ESAs) have low efficiencies and quasi-isotropic radiation patterns. Superdirective ESA arrays can be an interesting solution to cope with both constraints (the compactness and the directivity). In this paper, the theoretical and practical limits of superdirective antennas will be presented. These limits can be summarized by the directivity sensitivity toward the excitation coefficients changes and the radiation efficiency decrement as the inter-element decreases. The need for negative resistances is also a practical limit for transforming these arrays into parasitic ones. The necessary trade-offs between the antenna total dimensions (the number of elements and the inter-element distance) and the attainable directivity and efficiency are also analyzed throughout this paper. xml:lang="fr"

is also given to my second reader, Professor H.M. Lee, for his suggestions on the microstrip to coaxial cable transition for the monopulse comparator...consideranly larger radiating aperture, a highly directive radiation pattern can be achieved. This type of antenna is called an electromagnetic horn. 12...receiver modules are required, as in a pnased array or multichannel direction finding system. B. HELAIED WORK 1. likjA-Fiel Aten Tstn Near-iield antenna

Quadrature coils are often desired in MR applications because they can improve MR sensitivity and also reduce excitation power. In this work, we propose, for the first time, a quadrature array design strategy for parallel transmission at 298 MHz using single-feed circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna technique. Each array element is a nearly square ring microstripantenna and is fed at a point on the diagonal of the antenna to generate quadrature magnetic fields. Compared with conventional quadrature coils, the single-feed structure is much simple and compact, making the quadrature coil array design practical. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the decoupling between elements is better than –35 dB for all the elements and the RF fields are homogeneous with deep penetration and quadrature behavior in the area of interest. Bloch equation simulation is also performed to simulate the excitation procedure by using an 8-element quadrature planar patch array to demonstrate its feasibility in parallel transmission at the ultrahigh field of 7 Tesla. PMID:24649430

Quadrature coils are often desired in MR applications because they can improve MR sensitivity and also reduce excitation power. In this work, we propose, for the first time, a quadrature array design strategy for parallel transmission at 298 MHz using single-feed circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna technique. Each array element is a nearly square ring microstripantenna and is fed at a point on the diagonal of the antenna to generate quadrature magnetic fields. Compared with conventional quadrature coils, the single-feed structure is much simple and compact, making the quadrature coil array design practical. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the decoupling between elements is better than -35 dB for all the elements and the RF fields are homogeneous with deep penetration and quadrature behavior in the area of interest. Bloch equation simulation is also performed to simulate the excitation procedure by using an 8-element quadrature planar patch array to demonstrate its feasibility in parallel transmission at the ultrahigh field of 7 Tesla.

This paper describes two independent methods for estimating the insertion loss of patch arrayantennas that were developed for the Juno Microwave Radiometer instrument. One method is based principally on pattern measurements while the other method is based solely on network analyzer measurements. The methods are accurate to within 0.1 dB for the measured antennas and show good agreement (to within 0.1dB) of separate radiometric measurements.

An EHF waveguide slot array was developed for possible use as a receive-only paging antenna for ground mobile terminals. The design, fabrication, and measured performance of this antenna are presented. The antenna generates a circularly polarized fan beam that is narrow in azimuth and broad in elevation. When mechanically rotated in azimuth, it can receive a 20 GHz satellite transmission independent of mobile terminal direction. Azimuth plane sidelobe levels, which are typically

A multi-carrier time division multiple access (TDMA) is proposed for the future mobile satellite communications systems that include a multi-satellite system. This TDMA system employs the active arrayantenna in which the digital beam forming technique is adopted to control the antenna beam direction. The antenna beam forming is carried out at the base band frequency by using the digital signal processing technique. The time division duplex technique is applied for the TDM/TDMA burst format, in order not to overlap transmit and receive timing.

Measurements have been made over a 255 km radio path between Durham and Leicester in the UK in order to investigate the potential applicability of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques to communications within the HF band. This paper describes the results from experiments in which compact heterogeneous antennaarrays have been employed. The results of these experiments indicate that traditional spaced HF antennaarrays can be replaced by compact, active, heterogeneous arrays in order to achieve the required levels of decorrelation between the various antenna elements. An example case study is also presented which highlights the importance of the variable nature of the ionosphere in the context of HF-MIMO radio links.

A high bandwidth, large degree-of-freedom photorefractive phased-arrayantenna beam-forming processor which uses 3D dynamic volume holograms in photorefractive crystals to time integrate the adaptive weights to perform beam steering and jammer-cancellation signal-processing tasks is described. The processor calculates the angle-of-arrival of a desired signal of interest and steers the antenna pattern in the direction of this desired signal by forming a dynamic holographic grating proportional to the correlation between the incoming signal of interest from the antennaarray and the temporal waveform of the desired signal. Experimental results of main-beam formation and measured array-functions are presented in holographic index grating and the resulting processor output.

The proposed Hydrostar mission used a large orbiting antennaarray to demonstrate synthetic aperture technology in space while obtaining global soil moisture data. In order to produce accurate data, the array was required to remain as close as possible to its perfectly aligned placement while undergoing the mechanical and thermal stresses induced by orbital changes. Thermal and structural analyses for a design concept of this antennaarray were performed. The thermal analysis included orbital radiation calculations, as well as parametric studies of orbit altitude, material properties and coating types. The thermal results included predicted thermal distributions over the array for several cases. The structural analysis provided thermally-driven deflections based on these cases, as well as based on a 1-g inertial load. In order to minimize the deflections of the array in orbit, the use of XN70, a carbon-reinforced polycyanate composite, was recommended.

It is the technical difficulty of uplink antennaarraying that signals from various quarters can not be automatically aligned at the target in deep space. The size of the far-field power combining gain is directly determined by the accuracy of carrier phase calibration. It is necessary to analyze the entire arraying system in order to improve the accuracy of the phase calibration. This paper analyzes the factors affecting the calibration error of carrier phase of uplink antennaarraying system including the error of phase measurement and equipment, the error of the uplink channel phase shift, the position error of ground antenna, calibration receiver and target spacecraft, the error of the atmospheric turbulence disturbance. Discuss the spatial and temporal autocorrelation model of atmospheric disturbances. Each antenna of the uplink antennaarraying is no common reference signal for continuous calibration. So it must be a system of the periodic calibration. Calibration is refered to communication of one or more spacecrafts in a certain period. Because the deep space targets are not automatically aligned to multiplexing received signal. Therefore the aligned signal should be done in advance on the ground. Data is shown that the error can be controlled within the range of demand by the use of existing technology to meet the accuracy of carrier phase calibration. The total error can be controlled within a reasonable range.

Conventional phased arrayantennas using waveguide or coax for signal distribution are impractical for large scale implementation on satellites or spacecraft because they exhibit prohibitively large system size, heavy weight, high attenuation loss, limited bandwidth, sensitivity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) temperature drifts and phase instability. However, optical beam forming systems are smaller, lighter, and more flexible. Three optical beam forming techniques are identified as applicable to large spaceborne phased arrayantennas. They are (1) the optical fiber replacement of conventional RF phased array distribution and control components, (2) spatial beam forming, and (3) optical beam splitting with integrated quasi-optical components. The optical fiber replacement and the spatial beam forming approaches were pursued by many organizations. Two new optical beam forming architectures are presented. Both architectures involve monolithic integration of the antenna radiating elements with quasi-optical grid detector arrays. The advantages of the grid detector array in the optical process are the higher power handling capability and the dynamic range. One architecture involves a modified version of the original spatial beam forming approach. The basic difference is the spatial light modulator (SLM) device for controlling the aperture field distribution. The original liquid crystal light valve SLM is replaced by an optical shuffling SLM, which was demonstrated for the 'smart pixel' technology. The advantages are the capability of generating the agile beams of a phased arrayantenna and to provide simultaneous transmit and receive functions. The second architecture considered is the optical beam splitting approach. This architecture involves an alternative amplitude control for each antenna element with an optical beam power divider comprised of mirrors and beam splitters. It also implements the quasi-optical grid phase shifter for phase control and grid

Conventional phased arrayantennas using waveguide or coax for signal distribution are impractical for large scale implementation on satellites or spacecraft because they exhibit prohibitively large system size, heavy weight, high attenuation loss, limited bandwidth, sensitivity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) temperature drifts and phase instability. However, optical beam forming systems are smaller, lighter, and more flexible. Three optical beam forming techniques are identified as applicable to large spaceborne phased arrayantennas. They are (1) the optical fiber replacement of conventional RF phased array distribution and control components, (2) spatial beam forming, and (3) optical beam splitting with integrated quasi-optical components. The optical fiber replacement and the spatial beam forming approaches were pursued by many organizations. Two new optical beam forming architectures are presented. Both architectures involve monolithic integration of the antenna radiating elements with quasi-optical grid detector arrays. The advantages of the grid detector array in the optical process are the higher power handling capability and the dynamic range. One architecture involves a modified version of the original spatial beam forming approach. The basic difference is the spatial light modulator (SLM) device for controlling the aperture field distribution. The original liquid crystal light valve SLM is replaced by an optical shuffling SLM, which was demonstrated for the 'smart pixel' technology. The advantages are the capability of generating the agile beams of a phased arrayantenna and to provide simultaneous transmit and receive functions. The second architecture considered is the optical beam splitting approach. This architecture involves an alternative amplitude control for each antenna element with an optical beam power divider comprised of mirrors and beam splitters. It also implements the quasi-optical grid phase shifter for phase control and grid

Three multifrequency, dual polarization SAR antenna designs are reviewed. The SAR antenna design specifications were for a "straw man' SAR which would approximate the requirements for projected shuttle-based SAR's. Therefore, the physical dimensions were constrained to be compatible with the space shuttle. The electrical specifications were similar to those of SIR-A and SIR-B with the addition of dual polarization and the addition of C and X band operation. Early in the antenna design considerations, three candidate technologies emerged as having promise. They were: (1) microstrip patch planar arrayantennas, (2) slotted waveguide planar arrayantennas, and (3) open-ended waveguide planar arrayantennas.

Degradation of antenna performance by reflector surface distortion, which lowers gain and increases sidelobe levels, is addressed. Distortion compensation concepts based on the applications of properly matched array feeds are presented. Results of conceptual developments, numerical simulations, and measurement verifications are presented in support of this approach, with particular attention to the measurement technique. It is shown that the concept is most useful for overcoming the deterioration effects of slowly varying surface distortions, which would make the method very useful for future large space and ground antennas. It is further shown that for a typical, slowly varying thermal or gravitational surface distortion, a 19-element array feed can improve the reflector performance considerably.

Digital beamforming (DBF) transmitting multibeam planar arrayantenna with nonlinear behaviors of solid-state power amplifiers (SSPA) is discussed. This paper investigates the intermodulation beams produced by the nonlinearity characteristics of the SSPA with multiple carrier components. The Shimbo model is simplified to describe the nonlinear behaviors of SSPA. The optimal SSPA input back-off (IBO) point which is given the desired the carrier and the intermodulatin ratio (C/IM) is simulated. And the tradeoffs between linearity and efficiency of the power amplifier which influence this IBO is also discussed, helping to selecting suitable SSPA device and reducing the dc power consumption in satellite arrayantenna system.

An array of antennas is usually used in long distance communication. The observation of celestial objects necessitates a large array of antennas, such as the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Optimizing this kind of array is very important when observing a high performance system. The genetic algorithm (GA) is an optimization solution for these kinds of problems that reconfigures the position of antennas to increase the u-v coverage plane or decrease the sidelobe levels (SLLs). This paper presents how to optimize a correlator antennaarray using the GA. A brief explanation about the GA and operators used in this paper (mutation and crossover) is provided. Then, the results of optimization are discussed. The results show that the GA provides efficient and optimum solutions among a pool of candidate solutions in order to achieve the desired array performance for the purposes of radio astronomy. The proposed algorithm is able to distribute the u-v plane more efficiently than GMRT with a more than 95% distribution ratio at snapshot, and to fill the u-v plane from a 20% to more than 68% filling ratio as the number of generations increases in the hour tracking observations. Finally, the algorithm is able to reduce the SLL to –21.75 dB.

Using space-, time-, and phase-resolved Brillouin light-scattering spectroscopy we investigate the difference in phase of the two counterpropagating spin waves excited by the same microwave microstrip transducer. These studies are performed both for backward volume magnetostatic waves and magnetostatic surface waves in an in-plane magnetized yttrium iron garnet film. The experiments show that for the backward volume magnetostatic spin waves (which are reciprocal and excited symmetrically in amplitude) there is a phase difference of π associated with the excitation process and thus the phase symmetry is distorted. On the contrary, for the magnetostatic surface spin waves (which are nonreciprocal and unsymmetrical in amplitude) the phase symmetry is preserved (there is no phase difference between the two waves associated with the excitation). Theoretical analysis confirms this effect.

An initial design study and the development results of an S band RF power transmitting phased arrayantenna experiment system are presented. The array was to be designed, constructed and instrumented to permit wireless power transmission technology evaluation measurements. The planned measurements were to provide data relative to the achievable performance in the state of the art of flexible surface, retrodirective arrays, as a step in technically evaluating the satellite power system concept for importing to earth, via microwave beams, the nearly continuous solar power available in geosynchronous orbit. Details of the microwave power transmitting phased array design, instrumentation approaches, system block diagrams, and measured component and breadboard characteristics achieved are presented.

A novel hybrid resonator consists of right handed patch+composite right and left handed transmission line (RH+CRLH) is proposed for the first time aiming at both compactness and frequency manipulation. A demonstration with theoretical dispersion relations and EM simulation is provided for the correctness and efficiency. According to the new method, an ultra-small and dualband antenna operating around 2.4 GHz (n=0, Bluetooth band) and 3.5 GHz (n=+1, Wimax band) is designed, fabricated and measured, whose occupied area is only of 0.158 λ_0. Numerical and experimental results indicate that the antenna exhibits a good impendence match, low cross-polarization and comparable radiation gains in both bands. Excellent performances of the antennas based on hybrid resonators predict promising applications in multifunction wireless communication systems.

View to the east of the AntennaArray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Six AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

General view looking north-northeast at antennaarray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Moscow Radar Site Transmit Sector Two AntennaArray, At the end of Steam Road, Moscow, Somerset County, ME

View to the east-northeast of the AntennaArray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Six AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

General view looking north-northeast at antennaarray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Moscow Radar Site Transmit Sector One AntennaArray, At the end of Steam Road, Moscow, Somerset County, ME

View to the northeast of the antennaarray - Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Network, Christmas Valley Radar Site Transmit Sector Four AntennaArray, On unnamed road west of Lost Forest Road, Christmas Valley, Lake County, OR

During the past decade several schemes for deploying large numbers of low frequency radio antennas on the lunar surface have been investigated. The primary scientific motivation is an eventual large array on the lunar far side to image the cosmic Dark Ages using the highly redshifted neutral hydrogen signal. This goal requires an array with thousands of individual antenna elements, requiring a simple, robust, low mass, and rapid deployment system. Several concepts are currently being studied, including rovers (autonomous or tele-operated), ballistically deployed anchors and pulleys, and shape memory materials. This paper considers the use of inflatable antennas consisting of a thin conducting layer on a tubular polyimide structure. Based on previously deployed inflatable structures in space, it seems likely that tube lengths of at least 50 meters could be unrolled on the lunar surface. A major advantage of a lunar surface location is that deflation shortly after deployment is not a problem, and no rigidization techniques are required. A fundamental constraint is the maximum distance over which an inflating tube can unroll across the lunar surface. This can be tested at lunar analog sites on Earth. An additional application of inflatable structures may be self-supporting, vertical towers to support high frequency antennas for data transport between arrayantenna sites. In this case post-inflation rigidization would be necessary. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The study of printed circuit discontinuities is necessary in order to design, for example, transitions between rectangular waveguides and printed circuits. New developments with respect to the analytical approaches to this problem are discussed. A summary of the progress in the experimental approach is presented. The accurate solution for the modes in various millimeter-wave waveguides is essential in the analysis of many integrated circuit components, such as filters and impedance transformers. Problems associated with the numerical computation of these modes in two frequently used waveguide forms, namely, the finline and microstrip, are presented. The spectral domain method of formulation, with a moment method solution, is considered. This approach can be readily extended to analyze an arbitrary configuration of dielectric and metallized regions in a shielded enclosure. Galerkin's method is used, where the testing and basic functions are the same. It is shown that the mode functions, or eigenfunctions, are more sensitive to errors than the phase constants, or eigenvalues. The approximate mode functions do not satisfy the orthogonality relationship well, resulting in difficulties when these modal solutions are used to form an approximate Green's function or are used in a mode matching analysis.

Conventional methods to distribute RF signals to GaAs Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits Phased ArrayAntennas are inadequate for arrays having large numbers of elements. Optical RF distribution links have been proposed as a lightweight, mechanically flexible, and low volume solution. Three candidate techniques for providing optical RF distribution are discussed along with the electro-optic devices required to configure them. A discussion of the present status of applicable electro-optics devices is also included.

The passage of the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) through the tail of comet Giacobini-Zinner took place on September 11, 1985, at approximately 11:04 GMT. The signal-to-noise ratio of the data received from the ICE spacecraft during the comet encounter was improved by arraying the 64-m antenna channels A and B (RCP and LCP) with the two 34-m antennas. Specially designed combiners were built to combine the signals received by the three antennas at the different DSN sites to ensure that the spacecraft's weak signal was received. Although the ICE spacecraft was built with a 5-W transmitter and with a small antenna designed to provide data from no farther than 1 million miles, these combiners provided enough signal margin during the encounter to receive the ICE transmitted data from within the tail of comet Giacobini-Zinner, 44 million miles from earth.

The adaptive array is linearly polarized and consists essentially of a driven lambda/4 monopole surrounded by an array of parasitic elements all mounted on a ground plane of finite size. The parasitic elements are all connected to ground via pin diodes. By applying suitable bias voltages, the desired parasitic elements can be activated and made highly reflective. The directivity and pointing of the antenna beam can be controlled in both the azimuth and elevation planes using high speed digital switching techniques. The antenna RF losses are neglible and the maximum gain is close to the theoretical value determined by the effective aperture size. The antenna is compact, has a low profile, is inexpensive to manufacture and can handle high transmitter power.

An array of three antennas has recently been developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory capable of detecting signals at X and Ka band. The array requires a common frequency reference and high precision phase alignment to correlate received signals. Frequency and timing references are presently provided from a remotely located hydrogen maser and clock through a combination of commercially and custom developed optical links. The selected laser, photodetector, and fiber components have been tested under anticipated thermal and simulated antenna rotation conditions. The resulting stability limitations due to thermal perturbations or induced stress on the optical fiber have been characterized. Distribution of the X band local oscillator includes a loop back and precision phase monitor to enable correlation of signals received from each antenna.

We theoretically study the transmission reduction of light passing through absorptive molecules embedded in a periodic metal slot array in a near infrared wavelength regime. From the analytically solved transmitted light, we present a simple relation given by the attenuation length of light at the resonance wavelength of the slot antennas with respect to the spectral width of the resonant transmission peak. This relation clearly explains that the control of the transmission reduction even with very low absorptive materials is possible. We investigate also the transmission reduction by absorptive molecules in a real metallic slot antennaarray on a dielectric substrate and compare the results with finite difference time domain calculations. In numerical calculations, we demonstrate that the same amount of transmission reduction by a bulk absorptive material can be achieved only with one-hundredth thickness of the same material when it is embedded in an optimized Fano-resonant slot antennaarray. Our relation presented in this study can contribute to label-free chemical and biological sensing as an efficient design and performance criterion for periodic slot antennaarrays.

This paper presents a new technique to calibrate a microwave radiometer and antennaarray system. This calibration technique uses a radiated noise source in addition to two calibration sources internal to the radiometer. The method accurately calibrates antennaarrays with embedded active devices (such as amplifiers) which are used extensively in active phased arrayantennas.

Array-aided precise point positioning is a measurement concept that uses GNSS data, from multiple antennas in an array of known geometry, to realize improved GNSS parameter estimation proposed by Teunissen (IEEE Trans Signal Process 60:2870-2881, 2012). In this contribution, the benefits of array-aided CORS ambiguity resolution are explored. The mathematical model is formulated to show how the platform-array data can be reduced and how the variance matrix of the between-platform ambiguities can profit from the increased precision of the reduced platform data. The ambiguity resolution performance will be demonstrated for varying scenarios using simulation. We consider single-, dual- and triple-frequency scenarios of geometry-based and geometry-free models for different number of antennas and different standard deviations of the ionosphere-weighted constraints. The performances of both full and partial ambiguity resolution (PAR) are presented for these different scenarios. As the study shows, when full advantage is taken of the arrayantennas, both full and partial ambiguity resolution can be significantly improved, in some important cases even enabling instantaneous ambiguity resolution. PAR widelaning and its suboptimal character are hereby also illustrated.

Recently, optical fibers comprising a crystalline semiconductor core in a silica cladding have been successfully drawn by a conventional drawing process. These fibers are expected to exhibit a photoconductive response when illuminated by photons more energetic than the band gap of the core. In the photoconducting state, such a fiber can be expected to support driven RF currents so as to function as an antenna element, much as a plasma antenna. In this paper, we report the first device-related results on a crystalline semiconductor core optical fiber potentially useful in a photoconducting optical fiber antennaarray; namely, optically induced changes to the electrical conductivity of a glass-clad germanium-core optical fiber. Since DC photoconduction measurements were masked by a photovoltaic effect, RF measurements at 5 MHz were used to determine the magnitude of the induced photoconductive effect. The observed photoconductivity, though not large in the present experiment, was comparable to that measured for the bulk crystals from which the fibers were drawn. The absorbed pumping light generated photo-carriers, thereby transforming the core from a dielectric material to a conductor. This technology could thus enable a class of transient antenna elements useful in low observable and reconfigurable antennaarray applications.

As an alternative to parabolic antennas and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems, waveguide arrays offer another method of providing RF transmit/receive communication apertures for spacecraft. The advantage of the membrane waveguide array concept, in addition to its lightweight and low packaged volume, is its inherent shape. Relative to parabolic antennas, the requirement to make an accurate doubly curved surface is removed. L'Garde and Langley Research Center (LaRC), are currently working in this area to develop lightweight waveguide array technologies utilizing thin film membrane structures. Coupled with an ultra-lightweight inflatably deployed rigidizable planar support structure, the system offers a very compelling technology in the fields of space-based radar, communications, and earth resource mapping.

The use of a 32-GHz phased-array transmitting antenna with fiberoptic signal distribution is considered in the context of a Mars relay satellite for NASA's Space Exploration Initiative. The specifications of the proposed application are assessed with specific attention given to the EIRP requirement of 86 dBW and its ramifications on the phased array, antenna, and photonic architecture. A photonic performance analysis is conducted to study phase-noise and SNR degradations to determine whether phase-locked loop (PLL) complexity is required. SNR and phase noise are examined as a function of the number of optical splits, and the number is shown to be limited to 350. Use of the PLL allows one laser to support 650 elements - as opposed to 250 - showing that only a single laser diode is needed to support the array for the Mars transmitter.

A digital-signal-processing algorithm (somewhat arbitrarily) called SUMPLE has been devised as a means of aligning the outputs of multiple receiving radio antennas in a large array for the purpose of receiving a weak signal transmitted by a single distant source. As used here, aligning signifies adjusting the delays and phases of the outputs from the various antennas so that their relatively weak replicas of the desired signal can be added coherently to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for improved reception, as though one had a single larger antenna. The method was devised to enhance spacecraft-tracking and telemetry operations in NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN); the method could also be useful in such other applications as both satellite and terrestrial radio communications and radio astronomy. Heretofore, most commonly, alignment has been effected by a process that involves correlation of signals in pairs. This approach necessitates the use of a large amount of hardware most notably, the N(N - 1)/2 correlators needed to process signals from all possible pairs of N antennas. Moreover, because the incoming signals typically have low SNRs, the delay and phase adjustments are poorly determined from the pairwise correlations. SUMPLE also involves correlations, but the correlations are not performed in pairs. Instead, in a partly iterative process, each signal is appropriately weighted and then correlated with a composite signal equal to the sum of the other signals (see Figure 1). One benefit of this approach is that only N correlators are needed; in an array of N much greater than 1 antennas, this results in a significant reduction of the amount of hardware. Another benefit is that once the array achieves coherence, the correlation SNR is N - 1 times that of a pair of antennas.

In RFID systems, how to detect the position precisely is an important and challenging research topic. In this paper, we propose a range-free 2D tag localization method based on phased arrayantenna, called PATL. This method takes advantage of the adjustable radiation angle of the phased arrayantenna to scan the surveillance region in turns. By using the statistics of the tags' number in different antenna beam directions, a weighting algorithm is used to calculate the position of the tag. This method can be applied to real-time location of multiple targets without usage of any reference tags or additional readers. Additionally, we present an optimized weighting method based on RSSI to increase the locating accuracy. We use a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) UHF RFID reader which is integrated with a phased arrayantenna to evaluate our method. The experiment results from an indoor office environment demonstrate the average distance error of PATL is about 21 cm and the optimized approach achieves an accuracy of 13 cm. This novel 2D localization scheme is a simple, yet promising, solution that is especially applicable to the smart shelf visualized management in storage or retail area.

In RFID systems, how to detect the position precisely is an important and challenging research topic. In this paper, we propose a range-free 2D tag localization method based on phased arrayantenna, called PATL. This method takes advantage of the adjustable radiation angle of the phased arrayantenna to scan the surveillance region in turns. By using the statistics of the tags’ number in different antenna beam directions, a weighting algorithm is used to calculate the position of the tag. This method can be applied to real-time location of multiple targets without usage of any reference tags or additional readers. Additionally, we present an optimized weighting method based on RSSI to increase the locating accuracy. We use a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) UHF RFID reader which is integrated with a phased arrayantenna to evaluate our method. The experiment results from an indoor office environment demonstrate the average distance error of PATL is about 21 cm and the optimized approach achieves an accuracy of 13 cm. This novel 2D localization scheme is a simple, yet promising, solution that is especially applicable to the smart shelf visualized management in storage or retail area. PMID:28295014

A space power amplifier composed of active linearly tapered slot antennas (LTSA's) has been demonstrated and shown to have a gain of 30 dB at 20 GHz. In each of the antenna elements, a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) three-stage power amplifier is integrated with two LTSA's. The LTSA and the MMIC power amplifier has a gain of 11 dB and power added efficiency of 14 percent respectively. The design is suitable for constructing a large array using monolithic integration techniques.

A frequency multiplier with active linearly tapered slot antennas (LTSA's) has been demonstrated at the second harmonic frequency. In each antenna element, a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) distributed amplifier is integrated with two LTSA's. The multiplier has a very wide bandwidth and large dynamic range. The fundamental-to-second harmonic conversion efficiency is 8.1 percent. The spatially combined second harmonic signal is 50 dB above the noise level. The design is suitable for constructing a large array using monolithic integration techniques.

Phase ArrayAntennas provided angular scanning (beam steering) from fixed antenna structures. Photonics can accomplish the beam steering with improvements in size and weight along with the remoting benefits utilizing fiber optics. Photonic advantages include True Time Delay beam steering eliminating the beam squint imposed by phase shifted signals produced in an electronic implementation. Another benefit of beam steering is the ability to position nulls in the spacial pattern to reduce the interference signals. Hybrid circuits utilizing both photonic and electronic components take advantages of the best aspects of each technology. Various types of photonic implementations are included.

This paper presents a synthesis of a volumetric ring antennaarray for a terrestrial coverage pattern. This synthesis regards the spacing among the rings on the planes X-Y, the positions of the rings on the plane X-Z, and uniform and concentric excitations. The optimization is carried out by implementing the particle swarm optimization. The synthesis is compared with previous designs by resulting with proper performance of this geometry to provide an accurate coverage to be applied in satellite applications with a maximum reduction of the antenna hardware as well as the side lobe level reduction. PMID:24701150

Navigation is a key component of interplanetary missions and must continue to be precise with the changing landscape of antenna design. Improvements for the Deep Space Network (DSN) may include the use of antennaarrays to simulate the power of a larger single antenna at much lower operating and construction costs. Therefore, it is necessary to test the performance of arrayedantennas from a navigational point-of-view. This initial investigation focuses on the performance of arrayedantennas from a navigational point-of-view. This initial investigation focuses on the performance of delta one-way range measurements using a shorter baseline with more data collection then current systems use. With all other parameter equal, the longer the baseline, the better the accuracy for navigation making the number of data packets very important. This trade study compares baseline distances ranging from 1 to 1000km with an in use baseline, looking at a due east baseline, a due north baseline at 45 degrees East of North. The precision of the baseline systems can be found through a simulated created for this purpose using the Jet Propulsion Lab based Monte navigation and mission design tool. The simulation combines the delta one-way range measurements with two-range and two-way Doppler measurements and puts the measurements through a Kalman filter to determine an orbit solution. Noise is added along with initial errors to give the simulation realism. This study is an important step towards the assessment of the utility of arrays for navigational purposes. The preliminary results have showed a decrease in reliability as the baseline is shortened but the larger continental baselines show comparable results t that of the current Goldstone to Canberra.

The radiation characteristics of a two-element array of equilateral triangular patch microstripantenna on a ferrite substrate are studied theoretically by considering the presence of bias magnetic field in the direction of propagation of electromagnetic waves. It is found that the natural modes of propagation in the direction of magnetic field are left- and right-circularly polarized waves and these modes have different propagation constants. In loss-less isotropic warm plasma, this arrayantenna geometry excites both electromagnetic (EM) and electroacoustic plasma (P) waves in addition to a nonradiating surface wave. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the EM- and P-waves can be decoupled into two independent modes, the electroacoustic mode is longitudinal while the electromagnetic mode is transverse. The far-zone EM-mode and P-mode radiation fields are derived using vector wave function techniques and pattern multiplication approaches. The results are obtained in both plasma medium and free space. Some important antenna parameters such as radiation conductance, directivity and quality factor are plotted for different values of plasma-to-source frequency.

A method of estimating phase drifts of microwave signals distributed to, and transmitted by, antennas in an array involves the use of the signals themselves as phase references. The method was conceived as part of the solution of the problem of maintaining precise phase calibration required for proper operation of an array of Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas on Earth used for communicating with distant spacecraft at frequencies between 7 and 8 GHz. The method could also be applied to purely terrestrial phased-array radar and other radio antennaarray systems. In the DSN application, the electrical lengths (effective signal-propagation path lengths) of the various branches of the system for distributing the transmitted signals to the antennas are not precisely known, and they vary with time. The variations are attributable mostly to thermal expansion and contraction of fiber-optic and electrical signal cables and to a variety of causes associated with aging of signal-handling components. The variations are large enough to introduce large phase drifts at the signal frequency. It is necessary to measure and correct for these phase drifts in order to maintain phase calibration of the antennas. A prior method of measuring phase drifts involves the use of reference-frequency signals separate from the transmitted signals. A major impediment to accurate measurement of phase drifts over time by the prior method is the fact that although DSN reference-frequency sources separate from the transmitting signal sources are stable and accurate enough for most DSN purposes, they are not stable enough for use in maintaining phase calibrations, as required, to within a few degrees over times as long as days or possibly even weeks. By eliminating reliance on the reference-frequency subsystem, the present method overcomes this impediment. In a DSN array to which the present method applies (see figure), the microwave signals to be transmitted are generated by exciters in a signal

A full-wave spectral domain analysis has been used to obtain input-impedance results for a probe-fed rectangular-patch antenna, modeling the source as a magnetic-current frill. Multiple modes are used in the probe surface current to account for axial and azimuthal variations. It is established that maximum resistance is dependent on the substrate loss tangent. The axial variation of the probe current must be taken into account for substrate thicknesses greater than about 0.02 wavelengths.

A two-dimensional monolithic array has been developed that gives the elevation and azimuth of point source targets. The array is an arrangement of rows and columns of antennas and bismuth bolometer detectors on a fused quartz substrate. Energy is focused onto the array through a lens placed on the back side of the substrate. At 1.38 mm with a 50 mm diameter objective lens, the array has demonstrated a positioning accuracy of 26 arcmin. In a differential mode this precision improves to 9 arcsec, limited by the mechanics of the rotating stage. This tracking could be automated to a fast two-step procedure where a source is first located to the nearest row and column, and then precisely located by scanning. With signal processing the array should be able to track multiple sources.

Demands for high data rate and multifunctional apertures from both civilian and military users have motivated development of ultra-wideband (UWB) electrically steered phased arrays. Meanwhile, the need for large contiguous frequency is pushing operation of radio systems into the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) range. Therefore, modern radio systems require UWB performance from VHF to mm-wave. However, traditional electronic systems suffer many challenges that make achieving these requirements difficult. Several examples includes: voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) cannot provide a tunable range of several octaves, distribution of wideband local oscillator signals undergo high loss and dispersion through RF transmission lines, and antennas have very limited bandwidth or bulky sizes. Recently, RF photonics technology has drawn considerable attention because of its advantages over traditional systems, with the capability of offering extreme power efficiency, information capacity, frequency agility, and spatial beam diversity. A hybrid RF photonic communication system utilizing optical links and an RF transducer at the antenna potentially provides ultra-wideband data transmission, i.e., over 100 GHz. A successful implementation of such an optically addressed phased array requires addressing several key challenges. Photonic generation of an RF source with over a seven-octave bandwidth has been demonstrated in the last few years. However, one challenge which still remains is how to convey phased optical signals to downconversion modules and antennas. Therefore, a feed network with phase sweeping capability and low excessive phase noise needs to be developed. Another key challenge is to develop an ultra-wideband arrayantenna. Modern frontends require antennas to be compact, planar, and low-profile in addition to possessing broad bandwidth, conforming to stringent space, weight, cost, and power constraints. To address these issues, I will study broadband and miniaturization

SUBJECT TERMS (Contnue on reverse dfnoceaq and identiy by bkICk numnber) FIELD GROUP SUB-GROUP HP Adaptive Arrays HrF Comunications Systems 4 HP...Although their heavy computational load renders them impractical *1 for many applications, the advancements in cheap, fast digital hardware have...or digital form. For many applications, the LMS algorithm represents a good trade off between speed of convergence* and implementational The speed of

In a proposed digital signal-processing technique, a radio receiver would control the phasing of a phased-arrayantenna to aim the peaks of the antenna radiation pattern toward desired signal sources while aiming the nulls of the pattern toward interfering signal sources. The technique was conceived for use in a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, for which the desired signal sources would be GPS satellites and typical interference sources would be terrestrial objects that cause multipath propagation. The technique could also be used to optimize reception in spread-spectrum cellular-telephone and military communication systems. During reception of radio signals in a conventional phased-arrayantenna system, received signals at their original carrier frequencies are phase-shifted, then combined by analog circuitry. The combination signal is then subjected to down-conversion and demodulation. In a system according to the proposed technique (see figure), the signal received by each antenna would be subjected to down-conversion, spread-spectrum demodulation, and correlation; this processing would be performed separately from, and simultaneously with, similar processing of signals received by the other antenna elements. Following analog down-conversion to baseband, the signals would be digitized, and all subsequent processing would be digital. In the digital process, residual carriers would be removed and each signal would be correlated with a locally generated model pseudorandum-noise code, all following normal GPS procedure. As part of this procedure, accumulated values would be added in software and the resulting signals would be phase-shifted in software by the amounts necessary to synthesize the desired antenna directional gain pattern of peaks and nulls. The principal advantage of this technique over the conventional radio-frequency-combining technique is that the parallel digital baseband processing of the signals from the various antenna elements would be

The development of an omnidirectional antenna for sidelobe blanking is described. The results of electrical measurements for an S-band and L-band configuration are given. The antenna architecture consists of eight printed radiating elements arranged in a biconical fashion. The single radiating element is a pseudo log periodic microstriparray fed by means of capacitive coupling. Modularity and flexibility are the outstanding characteristics of the design.

The RF performance, size, pointing system, and cost were investigated concepts are: for a mechanically steered 1 x 4 tilted microstriparray, a mechanically steered fixed-beam conformal array, and an electronically steered conformal phased array. Emphasis is on the RF performance of the tilted 1 x 4 antennaarray and methods for pointing the various antennas studied to a geosynchronous satellite. An updated version of satellite isolations in a two-satellite system is presented. Cost estimates for the antennas in quantities of 10,000 and 100,000 unites are summarized.

An active retrodirective antennaarray which has central phasing from a reference antenna element through a "tree" structured network of transmission lines utilizes a number of phase conjugate circuits (PCCs) at each node and a phase reference regeneration circuit (PRR) at each node except the initial node. Each node virtually coincides with an element of the array. A PCC generates the exact conjugate phase of an incident signal using a phase locked loop which combines the phases in an up converter, divides the sum by 2 and mixes the result with the phase in a down converter for phase detection. The PRR extracts the phase from the conjugate phase. Both the PCC and the PRR are not only exact but also free from mixer degeneracy.

Magnetic loop antennas whose dipole moment, n, is oriented both along and across B0,are used to excite cw whistler modes in a large laboratory plasma for parameters ω ≈ 0.3 ωce « ωpe. These whistler "vortices" resemble m = 0 helicons in bounded plasmas when n parallel to B0 and m = 1 helicon modes when n is perpendicular to B0. Both dipole orientations produce conical phase fronts that cannot be directly compared to plane wave theories and are inclined at the Gendrin angle. The magnetic field topology exhibits evidence of linkage and helicity, whose sign is defined by propagation direction. The wave fields are force free. Using linear superposition, as demonstrated in Physics of Plasmas 7, 519-526 (2000), the measured fields are added in a variety of configurations to produce, for example, directional radiation patterns, whistler standing waves, and nearly plane whistler waves. The configurations are produced by adding the spatially and temporally shifted observed single-antenna magnetic field topology. The directional antenna configuration is shown to be more efficient than rotating field antennas. Whistler standing waves produce no perfect nodes and have wave polarizations varying spatially between linear and circular. Nearly plane whistler waves are created when the angle θ of wave propagation has been varied by a phase shift along an array of spatially separated antennas. These results are of interest to space and laboratory plasmas. (Work supported by DOE/NSF.)

A new adaptive antennaarray architecture for low-earth-orbiting satellite ground stations is being investigated. These ground stations are intended to have no moving parts and could potentially be operated in populated areas, where terrestrial interference is likely. The architecture includes multiple, moderately directive phased arrays. The phased arrays, each steered in the approximate direction of the satellite, are adaptively combined to enhance the Signal-to-Noise and Interference-Ratio (SNIR) of the desired satellite. The size of each phased array is to be traded-off with the number of phased arrays, to optimize cost, while meeting a bit-error-rate threshold. Also, two phased array architectures are being prototyped: a spacefed lens array and a reflect-array. If two co-channel satellites are in the field of view of the phased arrays, then multi-user detection techniques may enable simultaneous demodulation of the satellite signals, also known as Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA). We report on Phase I of the project, in which fixed directional elements are adaptively combined in a prototype to demodulate the S-band downlink of the EO-1 satellite, which is part of the New Millennium Program at NASA.

The use of superconductors to increase antenna radiation efficiency and gain is examined. Although the gain of all normal-metal antennas can be increased through the use of superconductors, some structures have greater potential for practical improvement than others. Some structures suffer a great degradation in bandwidth when replaced with superconductors, while for others the improvement in efficiency is trivial due to the minimal contribution of the conductor loss mechanism to the total losses, or the already high efficiency of the structure. The following antennas and related structures are discussed: electrically small antennas, impedance matching of antennas, microstripantennas, microwave and millimeter-wave antennaarrays, and superdirective arrays. The greatest potential practical improvements occur for large microwave and millimeter-wave arrays and the impedance matching of antennas.

The use of superconductors to increase antenna radiation efficiency and gain is examined. Although the gain of all normal-metal antennas can be increased through the use of superconductors, some structures have greater potential for practical improvement than others. Some structures suffer a great degradation in bandwidth when replaced with superconductors, while for others the improvement in efficiency is trivial due to the minimal contribution of the conductor loss mechanism to the total losses, or the already high efficiency of the structure. The following antennas and related structures are discussed: electrically small antennas, impedance matching of antennas, microstripantennas, microwave and millimeter-wave antennaarrays, and superdirective arrays. The greatest potential practical improvements occur for large microwave and millimeter-wave arrays and the impedance matching of antennas.

A planar monopulse radar apparatus includes a planar distribution matrix coupled to a planar antennaarray having a linear configuration of antenna elements. The planar distribution matrix is responsive to first and second pluralities of weights applied thereto for providing both sum and difference beam distributions across the antennaarray.

Three methods for the measurement of antenna efficiency are evaluated: 1) the Wheeler cap method, 2) the radiometric method, and 3) the directivity/gain method. Each of these methods was used to measure the efficiency of four different printed antennas (three microstrip patches with various feeds, and an eight-element series-fed microstriparray). These methods and the experimental results which were obtained are discussed.

A prototype imaging system at 31 GHz was developed, which employs a two-dimensional (5x5) array of tapered slot antennas, and integrated detector or mixer elements, in the focal plane of a prime-focus paraboloid reflector, with an f/D=1. The system can be scaled to shorter millimeter waves and submillimeter waves. The array spacing corresponds to a beam spacing of approximately one Rayleigh distance and a two-point resolution experiment showed that two point-sources at the Rayleigh distance are well resolved.

The feasibility of a closed loop adaptive feed array system for compensating reflector surface deformations has been investigated. The performance characteristics (gain, sidelobe level, pointing, etc.) of large communication antenna systems degrade as the reflector surface distorts mainly due to thermal effects from a varying solar flux. The compensating systems described in this report can be used to maintain the design performance characteristics independent of thermal effects on the reflector surface. The proposed compensating system employs the concept of conjugate field matching to adjust the feed array complex excitation coefficients.

The Advanced Communications (AC) for Aeronautics research at the NASA Glenn Research Center integrates both aeronautics and space communications technologies to achieve the national objective of upgrading the present National Airspace System infrastructure by responding to the agency's aviation capacity and safety goals. One concept for future air traffic management, free flight, presents a significantly increased demand for communications systems capacity and performance in comparison to current air traffic management practices. Current aeronautical communications systems are incapable of supporting the anticipated demands, and the new digital data communications links that are being developed, or are in the early stages of implementation, are not primarily designed to carry the data-intensive free flight air traffic management (ATM) communications loads. Emerging satellite communications technologies are the best potential long-term solution to provide the capacity and performance necessary to enable a mature free flight concept to be deployed. NASA AC/ATM funded the development of a Boeing-designed Ku-band transmit phased-arrayantenna, a combined in-house and contract effort. Glenn designed and integrated an Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Communications terminal based on the transmit phased-arrayantenna and a companion receive phased-arrayantenna previously developed by Boeing.

This article describes a general architecture for fault modeling, diagnosis, and isolation of the DSN antennaarray based on computationally intelligent techniques(neural networks and fuzzy logic). It encompasses a suite of intelligent test and diagnosis algorithms in software. By continuously monitoring the health of the highly complex and nonlinear array observables, the automated diagnosis software will be able to identify and isolate the most likely causes of system failure in cases of faulty operation. Furthermore, it will be able to recommend a series of corresponding corrective actions and effectively act as an automated real-time and interactive system supervisor. In so doing, it will enhance the array capability by reducing the operational workload, increasing science information availability, reducing the overall cost of operation by reducing system downtimes, improving risk management, and making mission planning much more reliable. Operation of this architecture is illustrated using examples from observables available from the 34-meter arraying task.

A dual-polarized, wide-bandwidth (200 MHz for one polarization, 100 MHz for the orthogonal polarization) antennaarray at P-band was designed to be driven by NASA's EcoSAR digital beam former. EcoSAR requires two wide P-band antennaarrays mounted on the wings of an aircraft, each capable of steering its main beam up to 35deg off-boresight, allowing the twin radar beams to be steered at angles to the flight path. The science requirements are mainly for dual-polarization capability and a wide bandwidth of operation of up to 200 MHz if possible, but at least 100 MHz with high polarization port isolation and low cross-polarization. The novel design geometry can be scaled with minor modifications up to about four times higher or down to about half the current design frequencies for any application requiring a dual-polarized, wide-bandwidth steerable antennaarray. EcoSAR is an airborne interferometric P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) research application for studying two- and three-dimensional fine-scale measurements of terrestrial ecosystem structure and biomass, which will ultimately aid in the broader study of the carbon cycle and climate change. The two 2×8 element Pband antennaarrays required by the system will be separated by a baseline of about 25 m, allowing for interferometry measurements. The wide 100-to- 200-MHz bandwidth dual-polarized beams employed will allow the determination of the amount of biomass and even tree height on the ground. To reduce the size of the patches along the boresight dimension in order to fit them into the available space, two techniques were employed. One technique is to add slots along the edges of each patch where the main electric currents are expected to flow, and the other technique is to bend the central part of the patch away from the ground plane. The latter also facilitates higher mechanical rigidity. The high port isolation of more than 40 dB was achieved by employing a highly symmetrical feed mechanism for each

This paper briefly describes pros and cons of using arrays of small antennas instead of large single dish antennas for spacecraft telemetry, command, and tracking (TT and C) - communications and navigation (C and N) - and science support that the Deep Space Network (DSN) normally provides. It considers functionality and performance aspects, mainly for TT and C, though it also considers science. It only briefly comments on the cost aspects that seem to favor arrays of small antennas over large single antennas, at least for receiving (downlinks).

Advances in printed circuit technology facilitate the design of thin, conformable, microstrip patch antennaarrays. Such multielement microwave antennaarrays can be advantageous for controlled heating of superficial malignancies during cancer therapy. This thesis reports a theoretical analysis and design verification of the rectangular microstrip radiator for a hyperthermia applicator. Applicability of a cavity model approach for predicting near field patterns of a probe fed microstrip patch radiating in a lossy homogeneous medium is analyzed throughout a step-by-step development based on electromagnetic principles. A modal expansion technique and length correction factor slightly improve this model. Limitations of the simplifying assumptions and approximations in this model are tested by comparing numerical results of a single patch radiating in water with the measured results from an electric field probe. The measurement probe is an encapsulated miniature dipole designed for microwave transparent nonperturbing electric field measurement in biomedical media. Results show that safe and efficient performance of a microstrip patch as a biomedical radiator can be enhanced by a thin superstrate cover layer. Linear array patterns indicate that amplitude and phase variations can compensate for mutual coupling effects to adjust beam width and smoothness necessary in controlled hyperthermia heating.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), under the sponsorship of NASA, has pioneered the development of land vehicle antennas for commercial mobile satellite communications. Several novel antennas have been developed at L-band frequencies for the Mobile Satellite (MSAT) program initiated about a decade ago. Currently, two types of antennas are being developed at K- and Ka-band frequencies for the ACTS (Advanced Communications Technology Satellite) Mobile Terminal (AMT) project. For the future, several hand-held antenna concepts are proposed for the small terminals of the Ka-band Personal Access Satellite System (PASS). For the L-band MSAT program, a number of omni-directional low-gain antennas, such as the crossed drooping-dipoles, the higher-order-mode circular microstrip patch, the quadrifilar helix, and the wrapped-around microstrip 'mast' array, have been developed for lower data rate communications. Several medium-gain satellite tracking antennas, such as the electronically scanned low-profile phased array, the mechanically steered tilted microstriparray, the mechanically steered low-profile microstrip Yagi array, and the hybrid electronically/mechanically steered low-profile array, have been developed for the MSAT's higher data rate and voice communications. To date, for the L-band vehicle application, JPL has developed the world's lowest-profile phased array (1.8 cm height), as well as the lowest-profile mechanically steered antenna (3.7 cm height). For the 20/30 GHz AMT project, a small mechanically steered elliptical reflector antenna with a gain of 23 dBi has recently been developed to transmit horizontal polarization at 30 GHz and receive vertical polarization at 20 GHz. Its hemispherical radome has a height of 10 cm and a base diameter of 23 cm. In addition to the reflector, a mechanically steered printed MMIC active array is currently being developed to achieve the same electrical requirements with a low profile capability. These AMT antenna developments

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), under the sponsorship of NASA, has pioneered the development of land vehicle antennas for commercial mobile satellite communications. Several novel antennas have been developed at L-band frequencies for the Mobile Satellite (MSAT) program initiated about a decade ago. Currently, two types of antennas are being developed at K- and Ka-band frequencies for the ACTS (Advanced Communications Technology Satellite) Mobile Terminal (AMT) project. For the future, several hand-held antenna concepts are proposed for the small terminals of the Ka-band Personal Access Satellite System (PASS). For the L-band MSAT program, a number of omni-directional low-gain antennas, such as the crossed drooping-dipoles, the higher-order-mode circular microstrip patch, the quadrifilar helix, and the wrapped-around microstrip 'mast' array, have been developed for lower data rate communications. Several medium-gain satellite tracking antennas, such as the electronically scanned low-profile phased array, the mechanically steered tilted microstriparray, the mechanically steered low-profile microstrip Yagi array, and the hybrid electronically/mechanically steered low-profile array, have been developed for the MSAT's higher data rate and voice communications. To date, for the L-band vehicle application, JPL has developed the world's lowest-profile phased array (1.8 cm height), as well as the lowest-profile mechanically steered antenna (3.7 cm height). For the 20/30 GHz AMT project, a small mechanically steered elliptical reflector antenna with a gain of 23 dBi has recently been developed to transmit horizontal polarization at 30 GHz and receive vertical polarization at 20 GHz. Its hemispherical radome has a height of 10 cm and a base diameter of 23 cm. In addition to the reflector, a mechanically steered printed MMIC active array is currently being developed to achieve the same electrical requirements with a low profile capability. These AMT antenna developments

We describe a new architecture for a superconducting detector for the submillimeter and far-infrared. This detector uses a distributed hot-electron transition edge sensor (TES) to collect the power from a focal-plane-filling slot antennaarray. The sensors lay directly across the slots of the antenna and match the antenna impedance of about 30 ohms. Each pixel contains many sensors that are wired in parallel as a single distributed TES, which results in a low impedance that readily matches to a multiplexed SQUID readout These detectors are inherently polarization sensitive, with very low cross-polarization response, but can also be configured to sum both polarizations. The dual-polarization design can have a bandwidth of 50The use of electron-phonon decoupling eliminates the need for micro-machining, making the focal plane much easier to fabricate than with absorber-coupled, mechanically isolated pixels. We discuss applications of these detectors and a hybridization scheme compatible with arrays of tens of thousands of pixels.

A new grid arrayantenna designed on a polymeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is presented. A good relative permittivity of the PDMS substrate increases the antenna bandwidth. The PDMS surface is also hardened to protect the proposed grid arrayantenna's radiating element. A SMA coaxial connector is used to feed the 36 × 35 mm2 antenna from its bottom. A bandwidth enhancement of 72.1% is obtained compared to conventional antenna. Besides, its efficiency is increased up to 70%. The simulated and measured results agreed well and the proposed antenna is validated to suit millimeter-wave applications.

Mutual coupling between rectangular apertures in a finite antennaarray, in an infinite ground plane, is analyzed using the vector potential approach. The method of moments is used to solve the equations that result from setting the tangential magnetic fields across each aperture equal. The approximation uses a set of vector potential model functions to solve for equivalent magnetic currents. A computer program was written to carry out this analysis and the resulting currents were used to determine the co- and cross-polarized far zone radiation patterns. Numerical results for various arrays using several modes in the approximation are presented. Results for one and two aperture arrays are compared against published data to check on the agreement of this model with previous work. Computer derived results are also compared against experimental results to test the accuracy of the model. These tests of the accuracy of the program showed that it yields valid data.

We present and analyze a hardware-optimized technique that provides true-time-delay steering for broadband two-dimensional array-antenna applications. The technique improves on previous approaches by the reduction of the two-dimensional beam-former architecture complexity, by the provision of flexibility in time-delay unit selection, and by the potential reduction of optical loss. The technique relies on a one-dimensional bank of time-delay units to form the required time-delay gradient for proper off-broadside angle steering. A reconfigurable optical interconnection fabric is used to reassign dynamically the connections between the time-delay units and individual array elements of a two-dimensional array to effect the proper steering angle along the off-broadside cone.

An optically controlled RF/microwave/mm-wave phased arrayantenna has been developed operating at 10 GHz with 30 kHz reconfiguration rate via the use of a micromachined silicon Spatial Light Modulator. A communications function has been demonstrated with a variety of Phase Shift Keying modulation schemes (BPSK, QPSK, MSK) at data rates up to 200 Mbit/s and low BER (<1×10-9). A single channel has been demonstrated at 35 GHz. The properties of photonic components are taken advantage of in several ways: (i) since the carrier frequency is derived from heterodyning of lasers, it is tuneable from almost DC-100 GHz, (ii) the use of optical fiber allows for EMI immune antenna remoting, and (iii) the wide information bandwidth of optical modulators, which in this configuration is carrier frequency independent. The above is achieved in a lightweight and compact format, with considerable scope for further reductions in size and weight.

Increased capacity in future satellite systems can be achieved through antenna systems which provide multiplicity of frequency reuses at K sub a band. A number of antenna configurations which can provide multiple fixed spot beams and multiple independent spot scanning beams at 20 GHz are addressed. Each design incorporates a phased array with distributed MMIC amplifiers and phasesifters feeding a two reflector optical system. The tradeoffs required for the design of these systems and the corresponding performances are presented. Five final designs are studied. In so doing, a type of MMIC/waveguide transition is described, and measured results of the breadboard model are presented. Other hardware components developed are described. This includes a square orthomode transducer, a subarray fed with a beamforming network to measure scanning performance, and another subarray used to study mutual coupling considerations. Discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of the final design are included.

Recent advances in nanofabrication and computational electromagnetic design techniques have enabled the realization of metallic nanostructures in different shapes and sizes with adjustable resonance frequencies. To date, many metamaterial designs in various geometries with the used of different materials have been presented for the applications of surface plasmons, cloaking, biosensing, and frequency selective surfaces1-5. Surface plasmons which are collective electron oscillations on metal surfaces ensure that plasmonic nanoantennas can be used in many applications like biosensing at infrared (IR) and visible regions. The nanostructure that we introduce has a unit cell that consists of Jerusalem crossshaped nanoaperture on a gold layer, which is standing on suspended SiNx, Si or glass membranes. The proposed nanoaperture antennaarray has a regular and stable spectral response. In this study, we present sensitivity of the resonance characteristics of Jerusalem cross-shaped nanoaperture antennaarrays to the changes in substrate parameters and metal thickness. We demonstrate that resonance frequency values can be adjusted by changing the thicknesses and types of the dielectric substrate and the metallic layer. Numerical calculations on spectral response of the nanoantenna array are performed by using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method6. The results of the simulations specify that resonance frequencies, the reflectance and transmittance values at resonances, and the band gap vary by the change of substrate parameters and metal thicknesses. These variations is a sign of that the proposed nanoantenna can be employed for sensing applications.

Adaptive phased-arrayantennas provide cost-effective implementation of large, light weight apertures with high directivity and precise beamshape control. Adaptive self-calibration allows for relaxation of all mechanical tolerances across the aperture and electrical component tolerances, providing high performance with a low-cost, lightweight array, even in the presence of large physical distortions. Beam-shape is programmable and adaptable to changes in technical and operational requirements. Adaptive digital beam-forming eliminates uplink contention by allowing a single electronically steerable antenna to service a large number of receivers with beams which adaptively focus on one source while eliminating interference from others. A large, adaptively calibrated and fully programmable aperture can also provide precise beam shape control for power-efficient direct broadcast from space. Advanced adaptive digital beamforming technologies are described for: (1) electronic compensation of aperture distortion, (2) multiple receiver adaptive space-time processing, and (3) downlink beam-shape control. Cost considerations for space-based array applications are also discussed.

Ka-band compact dielectric waveguide antennaarray for active imaging system is given. Antennaarray with WR28 metal waveguide direct feeding is specially designed with small size, high gain, good radiation pattern, easy realization, low insertion loss and low mutual coupling. One practical antennaarray for 3-D active imaging system is shown with theoretic analysis and experimental results. The mutual coupling of transmitting and receiving units is less than -30dB, the gain from 26.5GHz to 40GHz is (12-16) dB. The results in this paper provide guidelines for the designing of millimeter wave dielectric waveguide antennaarray.

The design of radiating elements having wider bandwidths is an area of major interest in printed antenna technology. This paper describes a novel circular microstripantenna adopting a three-layer stacked structure presenting a wider bandwidth as high as 20 percent with a low cross-polarization level and a high directive gain. Detailed experimental investigations are carried out on the effects of interlayer spacings and the thickness of the parasitic layers on the impedance bandwidth, 3-dB beamwidth and pattern shape.

Wideband radar signals are problematic for phased arrayantennas. Wideband radar signals can be generated from series or groups of narrow-band signals centered at different frequencies. An equivalent wideband LFM chirp can be assembled from lesser-bandwidth chirp segments in the data processing. The chirp segments can be transmitted as separate narrow-band pulses, each with their own steering phase operation. This overcomes the problematic dilemma of steering wideband chirps with phase shifters alone, that is, without true time-delay elements.

New in line uniplanar microstrip-to-slotline transitions for MIC/MMIC and phased array slotline antenna applications are described. Such transactions are compact and suitable to be used in an open environment or inside a package or a multichip module. The transitions share the concept of using a balun which consists of two microstrip lines connected to a slotline through a pair of coupled microstrips. The transitions are studied theoretically using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique and measured experimentally using an HP8510C Network Analyzer. For a back-to-back configuration, an insertion loss of less than 1.3 dB per transition is achieved over a 40% 3-dB bandwidth with a minimum of 0.6 dB at the design frequency.

platforms as antenna elements of the array, like a microstrip patch antenna , can conform to the structure of stealthy platforms. Its agile scanning rate... antenna architectures were studied and the requirements for hardware components such as the analog-to-digital converters and amplifiers are specified...15. NUMBER OF PAGES 101 14. SUBJECT TERMS Tracking,ArrayAntenna , Wireless Technologies,UAV, Sun and difference beams. 16. PRICE CODE 17

We are developing and testing active baluns and electrically short dipoles for possible use as the primary wideband receiving elements in the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) for HF-VHF radio astronomy. Several dipoles of various designs and dimensions have been built and tested. Their useful range occurs when the dipole arms are approximately 1/8 to one wavelength long and the feedpoint is less than 1/2 wavelength above ground. An eight-element NRL LWA Test Array (NLTA) interferometer has been built and fringes have been observed from the brightest celestial sources in the frequency range from 10 MHz to 50 MHz. The antenna temperatures vary from about 10% to 100% of the average brightness temperature of the galactic background. With these parameters it is easy to make the amplifier noise levels low enough that final system temperature is dominated by the galactic background.

The ARL:UT orbital SAR simulation has been upgraded to use three-dimensional antenna gain patterns. This report describes the modifications and presents quantitative image analyses of a simulation using antenna patterns generated from the modeling of a distributed arrayantenna.

Conformal antennaarrays offer many cost and weight advantages over conventional antenna systems. In the past, antenna designers have had to resort to expensive measurements in order to develop a conformal array design. This is due to the lack of rigorous mathematical models for conformal antennaarrays, and as a result the design of conformal arrays is primarily based on planar antenna design concepts. Recently, we have found the finite element-boundary integral method to be very successful in modeling large planar arrays of arbitrary composition in a metallic plane. Herewith we shall extend this formulation for conformal arrays on large metallic cylinders. In this we develop the mathematical formulation. In particular we discuss the finite element equations, the shape elements, and the boundary integral evaluation, and it is shown how this formulation can be applied with minimal computation and memory requirements. The implementation shall be discussed in a later report.

A new quasi-optical antenna-mixer-array design for terahertz frequencies is presented. In the design, antenna and mixer are combined into an entity, based on the technology in which millimeter-wave horn antennaarrays have been fabricated in silicon wafers. It consists of a set of forward- and backward-looking horns made with a set of silicon wafers. The front side is used to receive incoming signal, and the back side is used to feed local oscillator signal. Intermediate frequency is led out from the side of the array. Signal received by the horn array is picked up by antenna probes suspended on thin silicon-oxynitride membranes inside the horns. Mixer diodes will be located on the membranes inside the horns. Modeling of such an antenna-mixer-array design is done on a scaled model at microwave frequencies. The impedance matching, RF and LO isolation, and patterns of the array have been tested and analyzed.

We describe the design and performance of the digital servo and motion control system for the 6-meter parabolic antennas of the Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The system is divided into three nested layers operating at a different, appropriate bandwidth. (1) A rack-mounted, real-time Unix system runs the position loop which reads the high resolution azimuth and elevation encoders and sends velocity and acceleration commands at 100 Hz to a custom-designed servo control board (SCB). (2) The microcontroller-based SCB reads the motor axis tachometers and implements the velocity loop by sending torque commands to the motor amplifiers at 558 Hz. (3) The motor amplifiers implement the torque loop by monitoring and sending current to the three-phase brushless drive motors at 20 kHz. The velocity loop uses a traditional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm, while the position loop uses only a proportional term and implements a command shaper based on the Gauss error function. Calibration factors and software filters are applied to the tachometer feedback prior to the application of the servo gains in the torque computations. All of these parameters are remotely adjustable in the software. The three layers of the control system monitor each other and are capable of shutting down the system safely if a failure or anomaly occurs. The Unix system continuously relays the antenna status to the central observatory computer via reflective memory. In each antenna, a Palm Vx hand controller displays the complete system status and allows full local control of the drives in an intuitive touchscreen user interface. The hand controller can also be connected outside the cabin, a major convenience during the frequent reconfigurations of the interferometer. Excellent tracking performance ( 0.3‧‧ rms) is achieved with this system. It has been in reliable operation on 8 antennas for over 10 years and has required minimal maintenance.

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) located at the South Pole is in a period of expansion. This season eight surface antennas located at two sites were added to the existing array. These surface antennas are copper dipole antennas with nominal frequency response from 30-1000 MHz that will be sensitive to Askaryan effect neutrino signals as well as cosmic ray produced extensive air shower signals and will allow for coincident detection with in-ice antenna channels. A review of these surface antennas will be presented.

This paper presents an electromagnetic wave absorbing technique to reduce a radar cross-section (RCS) of a patch arrayantenna without compromising their antenna performance. The technique is based on periodic patterns, which is made of resistive materials. The 2×2 patch arrayantenna with a resonance frequency of 3.0 GHz was designed and fabricated. To reduce the RCS of the patch arrayantenna, the periodic patterns using a square patch element were proposed and applied to the surface between the four antenna patches. The printed lossy periodic patterns have radar absorbing performance at 12.0 GHz frequency. The measured results show that the lossy periodic patterns have no significant effect on the antenna radiation performance. On the other hand, the RCS is reduced by more than 98% compared to the conventional antenna at the target frequency.

Here, phase locking of an array of lasers is a highly effective way in beam shaping, to increase the output power, and to reduce lasing threshold. In this work, we present a novel phase-locking mechanism based on "antenna mutual coupling" wherein laser elements interact through far-field radiations with definite phase relations. This allows long-range global coupling among array elements to achieve robust 2-dimensional phase-locked laser array. The new scheme is ideal for lasers with deep sub-wavelength confined cavity such as nanolasers, where the divergent beam pattern could be used to form strong coupling among elements in the array. We experimentally demonstrated such a scheme using sub-wavelength short-cavity surface-emitting lasers at terahertz frequency. More than 37 laser elements are phase-locked to each other, delivering up to 6.5 mW single-mode radiations at ~3 terahertz, with maximum 450-mW/A slope efficiency and near diffraction limit beam divergence.

Here, phase locking of an array of lasers is a highly effective way in beam shaping, to increase the output power, and to reduce lasing threshold. In this work, we present a novel phase-locking mechanism based on "antenna mutual coupling" wherein laser elements interact through far-field radiations with definite phase relations. This allows long-range global coupling among array elements to achieve robust 2-dimensional phase-locked laser array. The new scheme is ideal for lasers with deep sub-wavelength confined cavity such as nanolasers, where the divergent beam pattern could be used to form strong coupling among elements in the array. We experimentallymore » demonstrated such a scheme using sub-wavelength short-cavity surface-emitting lasers at terahertz frequency. More than 37 laser elements are phase-locked to each other, delivering up to 6.5 mW single-mode radiations at ~3 terahertz, with maximum 450-mW/A slope efficiency and near diffraction limit beam divergence.« less

DESDynI is a mission being developed by NASA with radar and lidar instruments for Earth-orbit remote sensing. This paper focuses on the design of a largeaperture antenna for the radar instrument. The antenna comprises a deployable reflector antenna and an active switched array of patch elements fed by transmit/ receive modules. The antenna and radar architecture facilitates a new mode of synthetic aperture radar imaging called 'SweepSAR'. A system-level description of the antenna is provided, along with predictions of antenna performance.

We are developing high-sensitivity millimeter-wave detector arrays for measuring the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This development is directed to advance the technology readiness of the Inflation Probe mission in NASA's Physics of the Cosmos program. The Inflation Probe is a fourth-generation CMB satellite that will measure the polarization of the CMB to astrophysical limits, characterizing the inflationary polarization signal, mapping large-scale structure based on polarization induced by gravitational lensing, and mapping Galactic magnetic fields through measurements of polarized dust emission. The inflationary polarization signal is produced by a background of gravitational waves from the epoch of inflation, an exponential expansion of space-time in the early universe, with an amplitude that depends on the physical mechanism producing inflation. The inflationary polarization signal may be distinguished by its unique 'B-mode' vector properties from polarization from the density variations that predominantly source CMB temperature anisotropy. Mission concepts for the Inflation Probe are being developed in the US, Europe and Japan. The arrays are based on planar antennas that provide integral beam collimation, polarization analysis, and spectral band definition in a compact lithographed format that eliminates discrete fore-optics such as lenses and feedhorns. The antennas are coupled to transition-edge superconducting bolometers, read out with multiplexed SQUID current amplifiers. The superconducting sensors and readouts developed in this program share common technologies with NASA X-ray and FIR detector applications. Our program targets developments required for space observations, and we discuss our technical progress over the past two years and plans for future development. We are incorporating arrays into active sub-orbital and ground-based experiments, which advance technology readiness while producing state of the art CMB

For array of "brick" configuration there are electrical and mechanical advantages to feed the antenna with a feed on a substrate perpendicular to the antenna substrate. Different techniques have been proposed for exciting patch antennas using such a feed structure.Rncently, an aperture-coupled dielectric resonator antenna using a perpendicular feed substrate has been demonstrated to have very good power coupling efficiency. For a two-dimensional rectangular array with tapered slot antenna elements, a power combining network on perpendicular substrate is generally required to couple power to or from the array. In this paper, we will describe two aperture-coupled techniques for coupling microwave power from a linearly tapered slot antenna (LTSA) to a microstrip feed on a perpendicular substrate. In addition, we will present measured results for return losses and radiation patterns.

Calculated data are presented on the performance of printed antenna elements on substrates which may be electrically thick, as would be the case for printed antennas at millimeter wave frequencies. Printed dipoles and microstrip patch antennas on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), quartz, and gallium arsenide substrates are considered. Data are given for resonant length, resonant resistance, bandwidth, loss due to surface waves, loss due to dielectric heating, and mutual coupling. Also presented is an optimization procedure for maximizing or minimizing power launched into surface waves from a multielement printed antennaarray. The data are calculated by a moment method solution.

A thinned array with correlation processing of input signals is examined. It is shown that amplitude quantization does not change the signal at the thinned-array input as compared with the complete antennaarray. The discreteness of time delay causes the thinned and complete arrays to become nonequivalent. Computer-simulation results are presented.

Millimeter-wave (mmW)/sub-mmW/THz region of the electro-magnetic spectrum enables imaging thru clothing and other obscurants such as fog, clouds, smoke, sand, and dust. Therefore considerable interest exists in developing low cost millimeter-wave imaging (MMWI) systems. Previous MMWI systems have evolved from crude mechanically scanned, single element receiver systems into very complex multiple receiver camera systems. Initial systems required many expensive mmW integrated-circuit low-noise amplifiers. In order to reduce the cost and complexity of the existing systems, attempts have been made to develop new mmW imaging sensors employing direct detection arrays. In this paper, we report on Raytheon's recent development of a unique focal plane array technology, which operates broadly from the mmW through the sub-mmW/THz region. Raytheon's innovative nano-antenna based detector enables low cost production of 2D staring mmW focal plane arrays (mmW FPA), which not only have equivalent sensitivity and performance to existing MMWI systems, but require no mechanical scanning.

A low profile electronically steered phased array was successfully developed for the Mobile Satellite Experiment Program (MSAT-X). The newly invented cavity-backed printed crossed-slot was used as the radiating element. The choice of this element was based on its low elevation angle gain coverage and low profile. A nineteen-way radial type unequal power divider and eighteen three-bit diode phase shifters constitute the beamformer module which is used to scan the beams electronically. A complete hybrid mode pointing system was also developed. The major features of the antenna system are broad coverage, low profile, and fast acquisition and tracking performance, even under fading conditions. Excellent intersatellite isolation (better than 26 dB) was realized, which will provide good quality mobile satellite communication in the future.

The shared-aperture phased antennaarray developed in the field of radar applications is a promising approach for increased functionality in photonics. The alliance between the shared-aperture concepts and the geometric phase phenomenon arising from spin-orbit interaction provides a route to implement photonic spin-control multifunctional metasurfaces. We adopted a thinning technique within the shared-aperture synthesis and investigated interleaved sparse nanoantenna matrices and the spin-enabled asymmetric harmonic response to achieve helicity-controlled multiple structured wavefronts such as vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum. We used multiplexed geometric phase profiles to simultaneously measure spectrum characteristics and the polarization state of light, enabling integrated on-chip spectropolarimetric analysis. The shared-aperture metasurface platform opens a pathway to novel types of nanophotonic functionality.

We successfully demonstrate surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy using arrays of indium tin oxide (ITO) plasmonic nanoantennas. The ITO antennas show a strongly reduced plasmon wavelength, which holds promise for ultracompact antennaarrays and extremely subwavelength metamaterials. The strong plasmon confinement and reduced antenna cross section allows ITO antennas to be integrated at extremely high densities with no loss in performance due to long-range transverse interactions. By further reducing the spacing of antennas in the arrays, we access the regime of plasmonic near field coupling where the response is enhanced for both Au and ITO devices. Ultracompact ITO antennas with high spatial and spectral selectivity in spectroscopic applications offer a viable new platform for infrared plasmonics, which may be combined with other functionalities of these versatile materials in devices.

To address the issues of flexible electronics needed for surface-to-surface, surface-to-orbit, and back-to-Earth communications necessary for manned exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond, a room-temperature printing process has been developed to create active, phased-arrayantennas (PAAs) on a flexible Kapton substrate. Field effect transistors (FETs) based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with many unique physical properties, were successfully proven feasible for phased-arrayantenna systems. The carrier mobility of an individual CNT is estimated to be at least 100,000 sq cm/V(dot)s. The CNT network in solution has carrier mobility as high as 46,770 sq cm/V(dot)s, and has a large current-density carrying capacity of approx. 1,000 mA/sq cm , which corresponds to a high carrying power of over 2,000 mW/ sq cm. Such high carrier mobility, and large current carrying capacity, allows the achievement of high-speed (>100 GHz), high-power, flexible electronic circuits that can be monolithically integrated on NASA s active phasedarray antennas for various applications, such as pressurized rovers, pressurized habitats, and spacesuits, as well as for locating beacon towers for lunar surface navigation, which will likely be performed at S-band and attached to a mobile astronaut. A fully printed 2-bit 2-element phasedarray antenna (PAA) working at 5.6 GHz, incorporating the CNT FETs as phase shifters, is demonstrated. The PAA is printed out at room temperature on 100-mm thick Kapton substrate. Four CNT FETs are printed together with microstrip time delay lines to function as a 2-bit phase shifter. The FET switch exhibits a switching speed of 0.2 ns, and works well for a 5.6-GHz RF signal. The operating frequency is measured to be 5.6 GHz, versus the state-of-the-art flexible FET operating frequency of 52 MHz. The source-drain current density is measured to be over 1,000 mA/sq cm, while the conventional organic FETs, and single carbon nanotube-based FETs, are typically in the m

connections between antenna pair feeds corresponding to the two linear polarizations. The lens array designed for this study is a cylindrical 45-element...multibeam array that can be designed to have low loss for large numbers of elements for two orthogonal well-isolated (30dB) polarizations. In a transmitter...This loss can be significantly reduced if the lens array and the receiving antenna are designed as a system, which was attempted in the case of the 10

In this paper we propose a circular polarization analyzer based on spiral metal triangle antennaarrays deposited on graphene. Via the dipole antenna resonances, plasmons are excited on graphene surface and the wavefront can be tailed by arranging metal antennas into linetype, circular or spiral arrays. Especially, for spiral antennaarrays, the geometric phase effect can be cancelled by or superposed on the chirality carried within circular polarization incidence, producing spatially separated solid dot or donut shape fields at the center. Such a phenomenon enables the graphene based spiral metal triangle antennasarrays to achieve functionality as a circular polarization analyzer. Extinction ratio over 550 can be achieved and the working wavelength can be tuned by adjusting graphene Fermi level dynamically. The proposed analyzer may find applications in analyzing chiral molecules using different circularly polarized waves.

The feasibility of electromagnetic compensation for reflector antenna surface distortions is investigated. The performance characteristics of large satellite communication reflector antenna systems degrade as the reflector surface distorts, mainly due to thermal effects from solar radiation. The technique developed can be used to maintain the antenna boresight directivity and sidelobe level independent of thermal effects on the reflector surface. With the advent of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC), a greater flexibility in array fed reflector antenna systems can be achieved. MMIC arrays provide independent control of amplitude and phase for each of the many radiating elements in the feed array. By assuming a known surface distortion profile, a simulation study is carried out to examine the antenna performance as a function of feed array size and number of elements. Results indicate that the compensation technique can effectively control boresight directivity and sidelobe level under peak surface distortion in the order of tenth of a wavelength.

We describe feedhorn-coupled polarization-sensitive detector arrays that utilize monocrystalline silicon as the dielectric substrate material. Monocrystalline silicon has a low-loss tangent and repeatable dielectric constant, characteristics that are critical for realizing efficient and uniform superconducting microwave circuits. An additional advantage of this material is its low specific heat. In a detector pixel, two Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers are antenna-coupled to in-band radiation via a symmetric planar orthomode transducer (OMT). Each orthogonal linear polarization is coupled to a separate superconducting microstrip transmission line circuit. On-chip filtering is employed to both reject out-of-band radiation from the upper band edge to the gap frequency of the niobium superconductor, and to flexibly define the bandwidth for each TES to meet the requirements of the application. The microwave circuit is compatible with multi-chroic operation. Metalized silicon platelets are used to define the backshort for the waveguide probes. This micro-machined structure is also used to mitigate the coupling of out-of-band radiation to the microwave circuit. At 40 GHz, the detectors have a measured efficiency of ˜90%. In this paper, we describe the development of the 90 GHz detector arrays that will be demonstrated using the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) ground-based telescope.

In this article, we propose to enhance the isolation of antennaarrays by manipulating the near-field magnetic coupling between adjacent antennas using magnetic metamaterials (MMs). Due to the artificially designed negative or large permeability, MMs can concentrate or block the magnetic field lines where they are located, which allows us to tune the near-field magnetic coupling strengths between antennas. MMs can play a two-fold role in enhancing antenna isolation. On one hand, the magnetic fields can be blocked in gaps between adjacent antennas using MMs with negative permeability; on the other hand, the magnetic fields can be pulled towards the borders of the antennaarray using MMs with large permeability. As an example, we demonstrated a four-element patch antennaarray with split-ring resonators (SRR) integrated in the substrate. The measured results show that the isolation can be enhanced by more than 10 dB with the integration of SRRs, even if the gap between antennas is only about 0.082λ. This work provides an effective alternative to the design of high-isolation antennaarrays.

A low-cost beamformer phased arrayantenna has been developed for expendable launch vehicles, rockets, and missiles. It utilizes a conformal arrayantenna of ring or individual radiators (design varies depending on application) that is designed to be fed by the recently developed hybrid electrical/mechanical (vendor-supplied) phased array beamformer. The combination of these new arrayantennas and the hybrid beamformer results in a conformal phased arrayantenna that has significantly higher gain than traditional omni antennas, and costs an order of magnitude or more less than traditional phased array designs. Existing omnidirectional antennas for sounding rockets, missiles, and expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) do not have sufficient gain to support the required communication data rates via the space network. Missiles and smaller ELVs are often stabilized in flight by a fast (i.e. 4 Hz) roll rate. This fast roll rate, combined with vehicle attitude changes, greatly increases the complexity of the high-gain antenna beam-tracking problem. Phased arrays for larger ELVs with roll control are prohibitively expensive. Prior techniques involved a traditional fully electronic phased array solution, combined with highly complex and very fast inertial measurement unit phased array beamformers. The functional operation of this phased array is substantially different from traditional phased arrays in that it uses a hybrid electrical/mechanical beamformer that creates the relative time delays for steering the antenna beam via a small physical movement of variable delay lines. This movement is controlled via an innovative antenna control unit that accesses an internal measurement unit for vehicle attitude information, computes a beam-pointing angle to the target, then points the beam via a stepper motor controller. The stepper motor on the beamformer controls the beamformer variable delay lines that apply the appropriate time delays to the individual array elements to properly

In order to meet the demand for miniaturization and excellent performances of antennas to send and receive the wireless signals, in this paper a novel Photonic Band Gap (PBG) structure of a two-dimensional square lattice array etched on one side of silicon wafer is proposed as the grounds of a microstrip patch antenna. An analysis of the performance of a patch antenna with a PBG ground has been carried out, then two rectangle MEMS microstripantennas with a conventional and a PBG ground respectively, are designed, while the alternating direction implicit finite-difference time-domain (ADI-FDTD) is adopted to perform time simulations of Gaussian pulse propagation in the microstripantennas, as a result of the versatile method, the frequency-dependent scattering parameters and input impedance could be derived. An important reduction of the surface waves in the PBG antenna has been observed in the simulations, which consequently leads to an improvement of the antenna efficiency and bandwidth. Subsequently, the MEMS PBG antenna is micromachined and measured, and the simulation characteristics are verified by the measured curves of the MEMS PBG antenna. The measured peak return loss of PBG patch antenna is -21dB at 5.36GHz, and the bandwidth of 8.5%, which is three times wider than that of the conventional patch, therefore the gain and the bandwidth are enhanced by means of PBG process.

This paper describes the mechanical development of patch antennaarrays for the Juno mission. The patch arrays are part of a six-frequency microwave radiometer instrument that will be used to measure thermal emissions from Jupiter. The very harsh environmental conditions in Jupiter orbit, as well as a demanding launch environment, resulted in a design that departs radically from conventional printed circuit patch antennas. The paper discusses the development and qualification of the Juno patch arrayantennas, with emphasis on the materials approach that was devised to mitigate the effects of electron charging in Jupiter orbit.

Optical antennas and resonant structures have been extensively investigated due to its potential for electromagnetic detection and energy harvesting applications. However their integration into large arrays and the role of connection lines between individual antennas has drawn little attention. This is necessary if we want to exploit its potential constructively and to enable economical large-scale fabrication. In this contribution we point out some features that an efficient antennaarray should address. Experimental measurements on aluminum microbolometers are compared to electromagnetic simulations, it is shown that the finite size of a real array and the interconnection lines interact and affect the global performance.

In radiometer applications, it is required to design antennas that meet low average sidelobe levels and low average return loss over a specified frequency bandwidth. It is a challenge to meet such specifications over a frequency range when one uses resonant elements such as waveguide feed slots. In addition to their inherent narrow frequency band performance, the problem is exacerbated due to modeling errors and manufacturing tolerances. There was a need to develop a design methodology to solve the problem. An iterative design procedure was developed by starting with an array architecture, lattice spacing, aperture distribution, waveguide dimensions, etc. The array was designed using Elliott s technique with appropriate values of the total slot conductance in each radiating waveguide, and the total resistance in each feed waveguide. Subsequently, the array performance was analyzed by the full wave method of moments solution to the pertinent integral equations. Monte Carlo simulations were also carried out to account for amplitude and phase errors introduced for the aperture distribution due to modeling errors as well as manufacturing tolerances. If the design margins for the average sidelobe level and the average return loss were not adequate, array architecture, lattice spacing, aperture distribution, and waveguide dimensions were varied in subsequent iterations. Once the design margins were found to be adequate, the iteration was stopped and a good design was achieved. A symmetric array architecture was found to meet the design specification with adequate margin. The specifications were near 40 dB for angular regions beyond 30 degrees from broadside. Separable Taylor distribution with nbar=4 and 35 dB sidelobe specification was chosen for each principal plane. A non-separable distribution obtained by the genetic algorithm was found to have similar characteristics. The element spacing was obtained to provide the required beamwidth and close to a null in the E

The performance uniformity of each pixel integrated with a patch antenna in a terahertz plasmon detector array is very important in building the large array necessary for a real-time imaging system. We found a parasitic antenna effect in the terahertz plasmon detector whose response is dependent on the position of the detector pixel in the illumination area of the terahertz beam. It was also demonstrated that the parasitic antenna effect is attributed to the physical structure consisting of signal pads, bonding wires, and interconnection lines on a chip and a printed circuit board. Experimental results show that the performance of the detector pixel is determined by the sum of the effects of each parasitic antenna and the on-chip integrated antenna designed to detect signals at the operating frequency. The parasitic antenna effect can be minimized by blocking the interconnections with a metallic shield.

The divergence and directivity of a laser with a periodic Yagi-Uda optical antennaarray modulated surface are investigated by finite element method. The nanoparticle optical antennaarrays are optimized to achieve the high directivity and the small divergence by using of Helmholtz's reciprocity theorem. When the nanoparticle antenna replaced by a Yagi-Uda antenna with same size, the directivity and the signal-to-noise ratio of the modulated laser beam are notably enhanced. The main reason is that the directors of the Yagi-Uda antennas induce more energy to propagate towards the antenna transmitting direction. The results can provide valuable guidelines in designing collimated laser, which can be widely applied in the field of biologic detection, spatial optical communication and optical measurement.

The status of the technologies for phased-array-fed dual reflector systems is reviewed. The different aspects of these technologies, including optical performances, phased array systems, problems encountered in phased array design, beamforming networks, MMIC design and its incorporation into waveguide systems, reflector antenna structures, and reflector deployment mechanisms are addressed.

A next generation of Smart antennas with point-to-point communication and jam, spoof protection capability by verification of spatial position is offered. A directional antennaarray (DAA) with narrow irradiation beam provides counter terrorism protection for communications, data link, control and GPS. Communications are "invisible" to guided missiles because of 20 dB smaller irradiation outside the beam and spatial separation. This solution can be implemented with current technology. Directional antennas have higher gain and can be multi-frequency or have wide frequency band in contrast to phase antennaarrays. This multi-directional antennaarray provides a multi-functional communication network and simultaneously can be used for command control, data link and GPS.

The cavity model with magnetic side walls and dyadic Green's functions was used to study microstip disc antennas. Curves of efficiency of space-wave launching and directivity as functions of the ratio of the dielectric thickness to the disc radius d/a are shown for two dielectrics with permittivity equal to 2.55 and 9.60. The results are useful for the design of these antennas.

The exact calculation of height of burst has always been a challenge in the design of proximity fuzes. Radio frequency-based sensors can be designed for this purpose but the size and bandwidth of the antenna increases the design complexity; hence, miniaturization of the patch antenna using barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) as substrate material is proposed in this paper. The nanohexaferrite substrate material was prepared using a wet chemical method and characterized for structural and electromagnetic properties. An average crystallite size of 60 nm was obtained from x-ray diffraction. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy also confirms the formation of homogenous nanoferrites. Complex permittivity ( ɛ * = 6.2 - 0.04 j) and complex permeability ( μ * = 1.9 - 0.18 j) were obtained from electromagnetic characterization. The antenna structure fabricated and simulated confirms that, with the obtained electromagnetic parameters of synthesized magneto-dielectric material, the size of antenna can be reduced up to 42.5%. It also increases the bandwidth from 68 MHz to 166 MHz with respect to antenna on FR4 substrate. Therefore, BaFe12O19 is proposed as a suitable candidate for a high-bandwidth, miniaturized antenna for proximity fuzes.

The exact calculation of height of burst has always been a challenge in the design of proximity fuzes. Radio frequency-based sensors can be designed for this purpose but the size and bandwidth of the antenna increases the design complexity; hence, miniaturization of the patch antenna using barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) as substrate material is proposed in this paper. The nanohexaferrite substrate material was prepared using a wet chemical method and characterized for structural and electromagnetic properties. An average crystallite size of 60 nm was obtained from x-ray diffraction. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy also confirms the formation of homogenous nanoferrites. Complex permittivity (ɛ * = 6.2 - 0.04 j) and complex permeability (μ * = 1.9 - 0.18 j) were obtained from electromagnetic characterization. The antenna structure fabricated and simulated confirms that, with the obtained electromagnetic parameters of synthesized magneto-dielectric material, the size of antenna can be reduced up to 42.5%. It also increases the bandwidth from 68 MHz to 166 MHz with respect to antenna on FR4 substrate. Therefore, BaFe12O19 is proposed as a suitable candidate for a high-bandwidth, miniaturized antenna for proximity fuzes.

We demonstrate a class of microstrip patch antennas that are stretchable, mechanically tunable, and reversibly deformable. The radiating element of the antenna consists of highly conductive and stretchable material with screen-printed silver nanowires embedded in the surface layer of an elastomeric substrate. A 3-GHz microstrip patch antenna and a 6-GHz 2-element patch array are fabricated. Radiating properties of the antennas are characterized under tensile strain and agree well with the simulation results. The antenna is reconfigurable because the resonant frequency is a function of the applied tensile strain. The antenna is thus well suited for applications like wireless strain sensing. The material and fabrication technique reported here could be extended to achieve other types of stretchable antennas with more complex patterns and multilayer structures.

Results of a study to design a quasi-isotropic VHF antennaarray for the IUE satellite are presented. A free space configuration was obtained that has no nulls deeper than -6.4 dbi in each of two orthogonal polarizations. A computer program named SOAP that analyzes the electromagnetic interaction between antennas and complicated conducting bodies, such as satellites was developed.

The research was conducted on various types of antennaarrays namely Uniform Array, Binomial Array, Dolph-Chebyshev Array, and Taylor Array. This research is done in the real propagation environment in order to define precisely the number of antenna elements, the distance between the elements, the angle of the antennaarrays, the side lobe level and the n-bar array distribution. The testing process is done by using Matlab and the Non-Uniform Array Simulation Program. The results obtained for various types of antennaarrays are as follows: On Uniform Array produces Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) of 10.152° and directivity of l0 dB, on Binomial Array generates Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) of 20.245° and directivity of 7.47 dB, on Dolph-Chebyshev Arrayproduces Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) of 20.304° and directivity of 4.0185 dB, and on Taylor Arrayproduces Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) of 12.78° and directivity of 8.9 dB.

Development of very large arrays1,2 of small antennas has been proposed as a way to increase the downlink capability of the NASA Deep Space Network DSN) by two or three orders of magnitude thereby enabling greatly increased science data from currently configured missions or enabling new mission concepts. The current concept is for an array of 400 x 12-m antennas at each of three longitudes. The DSN array will utilize radio astronomy sources for phase calibration and will have wide bandwidth correlation processing for this purpose. NASA has undertaken a technology program to prove the performance and cost of a very large DSN array. Central to that program is a 3-element interferometer to be completed in 2005. This paper describes current status of the low cost 6-meter breadboard antenna to be used as part of the interferometer and the RF design of the 12-meter antenna.

Terahertz imaging systems have received substantial attention from the scientific community for their use in astronomy, spectroscopy, plasma diagnostics and security. One approach to designing such systems is to use focal plane arrays. Although the principle of these systems is straightforward, realizing practical architectures has proven deceptively difficult. A different approach to imaging consists of spatially encoding the incoming flux of electromagnetic energy prior to detection using a reconfigurable mask. This technique is referred to as "coded aperture" or "Hadamard" imaging. This paper details the design, fabrication and testing of a prototype coded aperture mask operating at WR-1.5 (500-750 GHz) that uses the switching properties of vanadium dioxide(VO2). The reconfigurable mask consists of bowtie antennas with vanadium dioxide VO2 elements at the feed points. From the symmetry, a unit cell of the array can be represented by an equivalent waveguide whose dimensions limit the maximum operating frequency. In this design, the cutoff frequency of the unit cell is 640 GHz. The VO2 devices are grown using reactive-biased target ion beam deposition. A reflection coefficient (S11) measurement of the mask in the WR-1.5 (500-750 GHz) band is conducted. The results are compared with circuit models and found to be in good agreement. A simulation of the transmission response of the mask is conducted and shows a transmission modulation of up to 28 dB. This project is a first step towards the development of a full coded aperture imaging system operating at WR-1.5 with VO2 as the mask switching element.

Virginia Tech has several articles which support the NASA Langley effort in the area of large aperture radiometric antenna systems. This semi-annual report reports on the following activities: a feasibility study of a synthesis procedure for array feeds to improve radiation performance of large distorted reflector antennas and the design of array feeds for large reflector antennas.

The effect of vibrations and static deformations on aerospace platforms and their influence on the performance of radar, navigation or communication systems are currently studied in the scope of the NATO Research Task Groups SET-131. The deformations may be caused by different effects, e.g. aerodynamic loads, vehicle motion, moving parts such as rudders or turbines, or the impact of a collision. Depending on their strength and the function of the wireless system, they may have a significant impact on the system performance. Structural aspects of the platform such as mechanical or thermal stability, aerodynamics or outer appearance are of great importance. The present paper gives an overview of the scope of work of the group and on-going investigations on system performance analysis and compensation methods such as adaptive signal processing or electronic phase compensation for military key applications such as RADAR, Communication, Electronic Support Measures (ESM) or Command and Control (C2). In addition, the development of an antennaarray demonstrator with active vibration compensation using piezo sensors and actuators and control algorithms will be shown, including simulated as well as experimental results.

A dual reflector configuration capable of electronic beam deflection is described. It was found that, in two dimensions, the performance of a confocal reflector arrangement can be significantly improved by shaping the subreflector. A computationally efficient method for analyzing the three-dimensional antenna has been demonstrated which combines an accurate array representation with a minimal amount of ray tracing to overcome the difficulties of modeling the array fed dual reflector antenna.

Inspired by the natural processes during morphogenesis, we demonstrate the transformation capability of active soft-matter to define nanoscale metal-on-polymer architectures below the resolution limit of conventional lithography. Specifically, using active polymers, we fabricate and characterize ultradense nanoplasmonic antennaarrays with sub-10 nm tip-to-tip nanogaps. In addition, the macroscale morphology can be independently manipulated into arbitrary three-dimensional geometries, demonstrated with the fabrication of an omnidirectional nanoplasmonic optical antennaarray.

A millimetre wave antennaarray, mounted on a space vehicle re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, encounters a high density plasma around it. At high antenna power, the millimetre wave field heats the electrons nonuniformly. The electron temperature, Te, follows the antenna pattern, being maximum along the direction of the principal maximum (z-axis) and falling off rapidly across it. The ambipolar plasma diffusion under the pressure gradient force creates a refractive index profile with maximum on the z-axis, leading to self-convergence of the millimetre wave and enhancement in the effective gain of the antenna.

A method for fabricating an M.times.N, P-bit phased-arrayantenna on a flexible substrate is disclosed. The method comprising ink jet printing and hardening alignment marks, antenna elements, transmission lines, switches, an RF coupler, and multilayer interconnections onto the flexible substrate. The substrate of the M.times.N, P-bit phased-arrayantenna may comprise an integrated control circuit of printed electronic components such as, photovoltaic cells, batteries, resistors, capacitors, etc. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

The Deep Space Network Large Array will replace/augment 34 and 70 meter antenna assets. The array will mainly be used to support NASA's deep space telemetry, radio science, and navigation requirements. The array project will deploy three complexes in the western U.S., Australia, and European longitude each with 400 12m downlink antennas and a DSN central facility at JPL. THis facility will remotely conduct all real-time monitor and control for the network. Signal processing objectives include: provide a means to evaluate the performance of the Breadboard Array's antenna subsystem; design and build prototype hardware; demonstrate and evaluate proposed signal processing techniques; and gain experience with various technologies that may be used in the Large Array. Results are summarized..

An active K/Ka-band antennaarray is currently under development for NASA's ACTS Mobile Terminal (AMT). The AMT task will demonstrate voice, data, and video communications to and from the AMT vehicle in Los Angeles, California, and a base station in Cleveland, Ohio, via the ACTS satellite at 30 and 20 GHz. Satellite tracking for the land-mobile vehicular antenna system involves 'mechanical dithering' of the antenna, where the antenna radiates a fixed beam 46 deg. above the horizon. The antenna is to transmit horizontal polarization and receive vertical polarization at 29.634 plus or minus 0.15 GHz and 19.914 plus or minus 0.15 GHz, respectively. The active array will provide a minimum of 22 dBW EIRP transmit power density and a -8 dB/K deg. receive sensitivity.

A miniaturized dual-band antennaarray using a negative index metamaterial is presented for WiMAX, LTE, and WLAN applications. This left-handed metamaterial plane is located behind the antennaarray, and its unit cell is a combination of split-ring resonator, square electric ring resonator, and rectangular electrical coupled resonator. This enables the achievement of a metamaterial structure exhibiting both negative permittivity and permeability, which results in antenna size miniaturization, efficiency, and gain enhancement. Moreover, the proposed metamaterial antenna has realized dual-band operating frequencies compared to a single frequency for normal antenna. The measured reflection coefficient (S11) shows a 50.25% bandwidth in the lower band (from 2.119 to 3.058 GHz) and 4.27% in the upper band (from 5.058 to 5.276 GHz). Radiation efficiency obtained in the lower and upper band are >95 and 80%, respectively.

An active K/Ka-band antennaarray is currently under development for NASA's ACTS Mobile Terminal (AMT). The AMT task will demonstrate voice, data, and video communications to and from the AMT vehicle in Los Angeles, California, and a base station in Cleveland, Ohio, via the ACTS satellite at 30 and 20 GHz. Satellite tracking for the land-mobile vehicular antenna system involves 'mechanical dithering' of the antenna, where the antenna radiates a fixed beam 46 deg. above the horizon. The antenna is to transmit horizontal polarization and receive vertical polarization at 29.634 plus or minus 0.15 GHz and 19.914 plus or minus 0.15 GHz, respectively. The active array will provide a minimum of 22 dBW EIRP transmit power density and a -8 dB/K deg. receive sensitivity.

Phased arrays of parabolic antennas are a potentially lower-cost way to provide uplink transmission to distant spacecraft, compared to the 34-m and 70-m antennas now used by the NASA Deep Space Network. A large transmit array could provide very high EIRP when needed for spacecraft emergencies, such as the equivalent of 1 MW radiated from a 70-m antenna. Cost-effectiveness is realized by dividing the array into smaller arrays to provide routine support to many spacecraft simultaneously. The antennas might be as small as 12-m in diameter, with as many as 100 antennas covering an area of 0.5 km to 1 km in extent. Such arrays present significant technical challenges in phase alignment, which must be maintained at close to 1 mm. The concept requires a very stable system with accurately known antenna phase center locations. The system is first calibrated by transmitting from all antennas, and observing the signals at a target located in the far fields of the individual antennas. The antennas are then pointed to the operational targets, with the signal phases and time delays set to reinforce in the target directions. This requires accurate knowledge of the target directions and calculation of the required phases. The system must be phase-stable for all directions and over the time between calibrations, which is desired to be at least one day. In this paper, a system concept is presented, the major error sources are identified, a rough error budget is established, and key elements of the system are discussed. A calibration method is recommended which uses satellites as radar targets. The performance goal is to achieve a combining loss of less than 0.2 dB in good weather, and of less than 1 dB in all but extremely bad weather.

We present a comprehensive study of a class of multi-band miniaturized patch antennas designed for use in a 3D enclosed sensor array for microwave breast imaging. Miniaturization and multi-band operation are achieved by loading the antenna with non-radiating slots at strategic locations along the patch. This results in symmetric radiation patterns and similar radiation characteristics at all frequencies of operation. Prototypes were fabricated and tested in a biocompatible immersion medium. Excellent agreement was obtained between simulations and measurements. The trade-off between miniaturization and radiation efficiency within this class of patch antennas is explored via a numerical analysis of the effects of the location and number of slots, as well as the thickness and permittivity of the dielectric substrate, on the resonant frequencies and gain. Additionally, we compare 3D quantitative microwave breast imaging performance achieved with two different enclosed arrays of slot-loaded miniaturized patch antennas. Simulated array measurements were obtained for a 3D anatomically realistic numerical breast phantom. The reconstructed breast images generated from miniaturized patch array data suggest that, for the realistic noise power levels assumed in this study, the variations in gain observed across this class of multi-band patch antennas do not significantly impact the overall image quality. We conclude that these miniaturized antennas are promising candidates as compact array elements for shielded, multi-frequency microwave breast imaging systems.

A technique for self-calibrating and phasing a lens-feed arrayantenna, while normal operation is stopped, utilizes reflected energy of a continuous and coherent wave broadcast by a transmitter through a central feed while a phase controller advances the phase angles of reciprocal phase shifters in radiation electronics of the array elements at different rates to provide a distinct frequency modulation of electromagnetic wave energy returned by reflection in one mode and leakage in another mode from the radiation electronics of each array element. The composite return signal received by a synchronous receiver goes through a Fourier transform processing system and produces a response function for each antenna element. Compensation of the phase angles for the antenna elements required to conform the antenna response to a precomputed array pattern is derived from the reciprocal square root of the response functions for the antenna elements which, for a rectangular array of NXM elements, is a response function T(n,m). A third mode of calibration uses an external pilot tone from a separate antenna element. Respective responses are thus obtained from the three modes of calibration.

We present a comprehensive study of a class of multi-band miniaturized patch antennas designed for use in a 3D enclosed sensor array for microwave breast imaging. Miniaturization and multi-band operation are achieved by loading the antenna with non-radiating slots at strategic locations along the patch. This results in symmetric radiation patterns and similar radiation characteristics at all frequencies of operation. Prototypes were fabricated and tested in a biocompatible immersion medium. Excellent agreement was obtained between simulations and measurements. The trade-off between miniaturization and radiation efficiency within this class of patch antennas is explored via a numerical analysis of the effects of the location and number of slots, as well as the thickness and permittivity of the dielectric substrate, on the resonant frequencies and gain. Additionally, we compare 3D quantitative microwave breast imaging performance achieved with two different enclosed arrays of slot-loaded miniaturized patch antennas. Simulated array measurements were obtained for a 3D anatomically realistic numerical breast phantom. The reconstructed breast images generated from miniaturized patch array data suggest that, for the realistic noise power levels assumed in this study, the variations in gain observed across this class of multi-band patch antennas do not significantly impact the overall image quality. We conclude that these miniaturized antennas are promising candidates as compact array elements for shielded, multi-frequency microwave breast imaging systems. PMID:25392561

The paper demonstrates a patch antenna integrated with a novel microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) actuator for reconfiguring the operating frequency. Experimental results demonstrate that the center frequency can be reconfigured by as much as 1.6 percent of the nominal operating frequency at K-Band In addition, a novel on-wafer antenna pattern measurement technique is demonstrated.

Modified conventional turnstile antenna features bifoliate pattern with relatively high gain and good circularity over solid area enclosed by the 0.26 and 1.31 radian angles of elevation. These antennas are intended for high altitude balloon use, their permissible weight is restricted to one pound.

A review of possible applications of high temperature superconductors (HTS) to antennas and antenna feed networks is presented. The frequency range of consideration is 1 MHz to 100 GHz. Three antenna application areas seem appropriate for HTS material. (1) Electrically small antennas and their matching networks: an increase in efficiency is possible for electrically short antennas, but at the expense of bandwidth. Substantial radiated power levels (on the order of kilowatts) can be handled by the best HTS material. Substantial improvement may be realized by making only the matching network of HTS material. (2) Feed and matching networks for compact arrays with enhanced directive gain (superdirective arrays): HTS material should permit such arrays to be fabricated that have high efficiency. (3) Feed networks for millimeter-wave arrays: Low-loss feed networks using HTS microstrip transmission lines give many decibels improvement in gain.

Disclosed herein is a radar jammer which utilizes an electronically agile, sparsely populated, phase controlled antennaarray of pseudo-randomly spaced radiating elements to form a high gain, single narrow beam of radiation directed at a detected threat radar, but containing only a small fraction of the available transmitting power, While providing simultaneously therewith effective jamming radiation over a wide coverage region. Preferably, the plurality of radiating elements are sparsely disposed pseudo-randomly over an area surface to form an antennaarray, the number of radiating elements in the array being less than the value of the surface area divided by the transmitting carrier wavelength (lambda) squared.

The performance of adaptive antennaarrays in the presence of weak interfering signals (below thermal noise) is studied. It is shown that a conventional adaptive antennaarray sample matrix inversion (SMI) algorithm is unable to suppress such interfering signals. To overcome this problem, the SMI algorithm is modified. In the modified algorithm, the covariance matrix is redefined such that the effect of thermal noise on the weights of adaptive arrays is reduced. Thus, the weights are dictated by relatively weak signals. It is shown that the modified algorithm provides the desired interference protection.

We consider fast and efficient optimizations of arrays involving three-dimensional antennas with arbitrary shapes and geometries. Heuristic algorithms, particularly genetic algorithms, are used for optimizations, while the required solutions are carried out accurately and efficiently via the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA). The superposition principle is employed to reduce the number of MLFMA solutions to the number of array elements per frequency. The developed mechanism is used to optimize arrays for multifrequency and/or multidirection operations, i.e., to find the most suitable set of antenna excitations for desired radiation characteristics simultaneously at different frequencies and/or directions. The capabilities of the optimization environment are demonstrated on arrays of bowtie and Vivaldi antennas.

The system requirements, module test data, and S-band phased array subsystem test data are discussed. Of the two approaches to achieving antenna gain (mechanically steered reflector or electronically steered phased array), the phased array approach offers the greatest simplicity and lowest cost (size, weight, power, and dollars) for this medium gain. A competitive system design is described as well as hardware evaluation which will lead to timely availability of this technology for implementing such a system. The objectives of the study were: to fabricate and test six engineering model transmit/receive microelectronics modules; to design, fabricate, and test one dc and logic multilayer manifold; and to integrate and test an S-band phased arrayantenna subsystem composed of antenna elements, seven T/R modules, RF manifolds and dc manifold.

A wideband microstrip-based textile planar antenna with artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) plane is presented. The antenna is initially designed using the combination of two rectangular microstripantennas operating at 1.5 and 2.5 GHz before being further optimized for wideband operation using various broadbanding techniques. This optimized radiator is then placed over an array of unit elements forming an AMC plane. Each unit element is formed using a square patch slotted using a circular ring and is designed to resonate at 2 GHz. To validate the contribution of the AMC plane in reducing backward radiation toward the human user, the performance of the proposed antenna is compared to a similar antenna without the AMC plane. This investigation indicated that the proposed antenna is capable of reducing backlobe while simultaneously increasing gain to 3.38 dB and improving bandwidth up to 52%.

Printed dipole elements and their complement, linear slots, are elementary radiators that have found use in low-profile antennaarrays. Low-profile antennaarrays, in addition to their small size and low weight characteristics, offer the potential advantage of low-cost, high-volume production with easy integration with active integrated circuit components. The design of such arrays requires that the radiation and impedance characteristics of the radiating elements be known. The FDTD (Finite-Difference Time-Domain) method is a general, straight-forward implementation of Maxwell's equations and offers a relatively simple way of analyzing both printed dipole and slot elements. Investigated in this work is the application of the FDTD method to the analysis of printed dipole and slot elements transversely coupled to an infinite transmission line in a multilayered configuration. Such dipole and slot elements may be used in dipole and slot series-fed-type linear arrays, where element offsets and interelement line lengths are used to obtain the desired amplitude distribution and beam direction, respectively. The design of such arrays is achieved using transmission line theory with equivalent circuit models for the radiating elements. In an equivalent circuit model, the dipole represents a shunt impedance to the transmission line, where the impedance is a function of dipole offset, length, and width. Similarly, the slot represents a series impedance to the transmission line. The FDTD method is applied to single dipole and slot elements transversely coupled to an infinite microstrip line using a fixed rectangular grid with Mur's second order absorbing boundary conditions. Frequency-dependent circuit and scattering parameters are obtained by saving desired time-domain quantities and using the Fourier transform. A Gaussian pulse excitation is applied to the microstrip transmission line, where the resulting reflected signal due to the presence of the radiating element is used

Global Positioning System (GPS)-based navigation has become common for low-Earth orbit spacecraft as the signal environment is similar to that on the Earth s surface. The situation changes abruptly, however, for spacecraft whose orbital altitudes exceed that of the GPS constellation. Visibility is dramatically reduced and signals that are present may be very weak and more susceptible to interference. GPS receivers effective at these altitudes require increased sensitivity, which often requires a high-gain antenna. Pointing such an antenna can pose a challenge. One efficient approach to mitigate these problems is the use of a digitally steered antennaarray. Such an antenna can optimally allocate gain toward desired signal sources and away from interferers. This paper presents preliminary results in the development and test of a digitally steered antennaarray for the Navigator GPS research program at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center. In particular, this paper highlights the development of an array and front-end electronics, the development and test of a real-time software GPS receiver, and implementation of three beamforming methods for combining the signals from the array. Additionally, this paper discusses the development of a GPS signal simulator which produces digital samples of the GPS L1C/A signals as they would be received by an arbitrary antennaarray configuration. The simulator models transmitter and receiver dynamics, near-far and multipath interference, and has been a critical component in both the development and test of the GPS receiver. The GPS receiver system was tested with real and simulated GPS signals. Preliminary results show that performance improvement was achieved in both the weak signal and interference environments, matching analytical predictions. This paper summarizes our initial findings and discusses the advantages and limitations of the antennaarray and the various beamforming methods.

We study theoretically various design considerations for efficient generation of second harmonic using a nonlinear substrate patterned with nano-antennas. The analysis is focused on a gap Bowtie nano-antennaarray recessed in LiNbO₃ which is shown to be preferable over on surface structures due to field enhancement, field profile and linear and non-linear polarization considerations. In addition, we develop the nano-antenna counterpart of the Boyd-Klienmann model in order to analyze the impact of a Gaussian shaped fundamental beam on the generated second harmonic. Finally, we show that the dielectric properties of the substrate lead to preferable directions for the incident fundamental harmonic and the emission of the second harmonic. Our analyses lead to several design rules which can enhance second and high harmonic generation from nano-antennasarrays by several orders of magnitude.

This paper presents the design of a 2 × 4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennaarray fabricated on a nanocomposite magneto-dielectric polymer substrate. The 10-nm iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite is used as substrate to enhance the performance of a MIMO antennaarray. The measured results showed up to 40.8 % enhancement in terms of bandwidth, 9.95 dB gain, and 57 % of radiation efficiency. Furthermore, it is found that the proposed magneto-dielectric (PDMS-Fe3O4) composite substrate provides excellent MIMO parameters such as correlation coefficient, diversity gain, and mutual coupling. The prototype of the proposed antenna is transparent, flexible, lightweight, and resistant against dust and corrosion. Measured results indicate that the proposed antenna is suitable for WLAN and ultra-wideband biomedical applications within frequency range of 5.33-7.70 GHz.

Advancements in common aperture antenna technology were employed to utilize its proprietary genetic algorithmbased modeling tools in an effort to develop, build, and test a dual-polarization array for Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) applications. Final program results demonstrate the ability to achieve a lightweight, thin, higher-gain aperture that covers the desired spectral band. NASA employs various passive microwave and millimeter-wave instruments, such as spectral radiometers, for a range of remote sensing applications, from measurements of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, to cosmic background emission. These instruments such as the HIRAD, SFMR (Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer), and LRR (Lightweight Rainfall Radiometer), provide unique data accumulation capabilities for observing sea surface wind, temperature, and rainfall, and significantly enhance the understanding and predictability of hurricane intensity. These microwave instruments require extremely efficient wideband or multiband antennas in order to conserve space on the airborne platform. In addition, the thickness and weight of the antennaarrays is of paramount importance in reducing platform drag, permitting greater time on station. Current sensors are often heavy, single- polarization, or limited in frequency coverage. The ideal wideband antenna will have reduced size, weight, and profile (a conformal construct) without sacrificing optimum performance. The technology applied to this new HIRAD array will allow NASA, NOAA, and other users to gather information related to hurricanes and other tropical storms more cost effectively without sacrificing sensor performance or the aircraft time on station. The results of the initial analysis and numerical design indicated strong potential for an antennaarray that would satisfy all of the design requirements for a replacement HIRAD array. Multiple common aperture antenna methodologies were employed to achieve exceptional gain over the entire